 Hi, I'm Linda Kremlund. Hi, I'm Susan Lloyd. I'm Keith Gosland, and this is All Things LGBTQ. Welcome. And we want to acknowledge this is Rowan's first solo venture producing our show, which is being taped at Orchimedia in Montpelier, Vermont, which we recognize as being unceded indigenous land. It is being taped on Tuesday, the 20th of December. So this is our happy new year's show. I have no comment. But Linda, save us. All right. For our first story, we're going to be in Louisville, Kentucky. On purpose? No. Because on purpose? I know. Really. A Kentucky state senator said Tuesday that her transgender son, a trans-right advocate, on whom a lack of acceptance took a toll, he died by suicide. He was 24. Democrats Senator Karen Berg said her son, Henry Berg Broso, long struggled with mental health issues, not because he was trans, but from the difficulty finding acceptance. She said he died on Friday. The Louisville lawmaker said her son had just received a big promotion working for the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for LGBTQ rights. He had finally found a community, she said. But that could not undo the brokenness that he already felt. So very sad story there. At five points, Diner and Barr in Nashville, Tennessee, drag performer Veronica Electronica can often be seen strutting between brunch tables. Her big hair, glitzy outfits, and quick-wit patrons on their toes. Veronica's light-hearted performances are a staple of Tennessee's drag scene. But on a recent Saturday in December, she abruptly stopped her show to address a heavy subject. A proposed state bill seeking to ban drag queen acts, like the one she was performing at the moment from public view. If that law passes, she said, I would be committing a potential felony. As the audience booed the bill, if you're not a fan of that bill, I highly suggest you contact your state legislator. I only think it should be a felony if you're not doing it properly. It's a crime if you do it indirectly, but not doing it in itself. I think this is the exception of other states who are trying to do ban drag queen story hours because you're grooming children. Well, counteracting with biblical story hour stuff, that's... A former Ohio middle school teacher said she was forced to resign after her boss said she would not address students. She told her boss she would not address students by their preferred pronouns, because it violates her religious beliefs. About a week before she resigned, two of Garity's students requested that she use names associated with their gender identities rather than their legal names. One of the students also wanted to be addressed by their preferred pronoun. The lawsuit notes that the school had adopted a policy that required teachers to use preferred pronouns of students during their time in school. Garity was told she would be required to put her beliefs aside as a public servant. Now, this seems to make sense to me, right? And that her unwillingness to do so would be in subordination. Garity, again, said she would not use the student's preferred pronouns and was sent back to the classroom. The lawsuit says that minutes later, Garity was pulled from the classroom and told that either she changed her mind or resigned, believing she had no other choice. Garity submitted a resignation letter. She was subsequently escorted out of the building according to the suit. And there's gonna be more of those suits. Alliance Defending Freedom is looking for cases that they can appeal up the system. Yeah, so she'll be on their list. Two people were arrested at a New York City Council member's apartment building Monday after opponents of a drag reading event targeted it with messages the political called Pure Hate Unmasked Officials said. And this was a New York state representative who lives in Chelsea, Chelsea, New York. And, you know, that's a very gay area. So she could know better. Yeah. And he was targeted in the building he lives in. I have his name somewhere. And a couple were arrested, but they were like destroying the building he worked in. And they were out in front of his house. And, you know, so when that starts happening in a neighborhood like Chelsea, that is not a good sign. We have problems. And with this two women were arrested on criminal trespass charges. Oh, his name is Eric Botcher. And they were trespass charging at the apartment building of Council memory. And so just two of them were arrested. But they were at another site where they were doing a Drake show library event. And, I mean, the hate that you just heard when people were out in front of this building. I mean, it was just unbelievable. So, and they canceled the event, I think. And it was for children who had, who were on the spectrum. And so it was a special time for them, but I know. You mean children with autism? Yes. Okay. And this was at the New York City Library, the standoff over Drake Story Hour, event of popular national story. The event was billed as a story time with local Drake performers adapted to be more accessible to kids with autism and other disabilities. And I have a photo that we'll be showing now. A 37-page staff guide reveals details about how Senator Krista Samina approaches her job and runs her office. I know, she's our bisexual. Reportedly, a couple of years old but has at least one congressional ethics expert questioning whether the controversial lawmaker may have violated Senate ethic rules. According to the report, the memo states that Samina's aides are required to shop for her groceries when she's in DC, schedule weekly meetings for her, keep a bottle of water at room temperature and have water on hand at all times and let technicians enter her DC apartment if her internet is down. What about picking up her dry cleaning? I'm sure that's part of it. On Monday, New York Times published an investigation alleging that Congressman-elect George Santos, don't you love this story? Oh my God, he ran against another gay guy. What was his name? Anyway, and there were two gay guys running against each other in the district on Staten Island, I believe. So this one won. And we don't even know if he's really gay because, yes, an ex-wife that he's hidden somewhere or a wife somewhere, but... They were only divorced within the past year. I know, I mean a lot of gay people have gotten married and so forth, but the Times reported that Santos became the first out-gay Republican to win a U.S. House seat as a non-incumbent. Appears to have lied about both... Non-gay, too. Incoming. Appears to have lied about both graduating from Baruch College and attending New York University, as well as having worked for City Corp in Goldman Sachs. It also revealed that he may have lied about having employed four employees victims from the 2006 Pulse nightclub shooting and that he confessed in 2010 to stealing a checkbook in Brazil and faces charges of theft and fraud among numerous other discrepancies. And subject to Chelsea's potential history and resume. Now, another falsehood was likely exposed. Santos touted his Jewish heritage to Orthodox Jewish voters. But the Jewish Telegraph Agency reports that more than likely that's fake, too. There was a press conference this afternoon. Well, the Republicans want to keep them. Well, no, no, he fessed up that all of that is indeed fabricated. He is Catholic, his parents did not immigrate to avoid the Holocaust. They were already in South America. And that there was nothing on his resume that was accurate. I know, and the Republicans want to keep him. He said, well, I don't think that's any reason for why I should resign. All right, moving on. I know, I know. And police have arrested two men in connection with a string of robberies and murders of men who were picked up at bars in New York City. Kenwood Allen, 33, and another unnamed man were arrested and charged with the drug induced deaths of two men. Although police said more charges are expected as their investigation continues, police alleged the two men were part of a crew who drugged and then robbed unsuspecting men after they had left various Manhattan bars between March of this year. Beginning in March, according to the report. Allen was charged on March 18 with the death of Nurbushira and the July 30th death of Adri-John Borgesia. At least 24 other men have been drugged and robbed. And sometimes they've been killed. Under similar circumstances, and police have long suspected a crew was targeting inebriated bar goers in the area. So at least they got them, or they think they got them anyway. Oh, and just for my last thing here for now is the night footage is out for HBO's true detective, Knight County, which stars Jody Foster. And Kaylee Reese as detectives investigating the disappearance of staffers from a scientific research station in Alaska. So anybody who wants to watch that, it's on HBO, should be good. Okay, Susan, what do you got? All right. Well, I just want to say get well soon and I'm going to do my best to bring these folks to far off places and depress the hell out of them. Isn't that my job? Yeah, no. Yes, pretty much. Usually. So I'm going to do some teasers here and then we'll come back. There's a couple bright spots. In both Spain and Scotland, there's been gender self-determination legislation that's going through. So Spain's lower house of parliament passed a law that allows people over 16 to change their legally registered gender without any medical supervision. That's good. Say more about that. On the same day, the Scottish parliament passed a bill to make it easier for people to change their legally recognized gender. The approval makes Scotland the first part of the UK to have endorsed allowing people to declare their gender on documents without the need for medical certification. So that's kind of cool. Then I'll come back to, I don't want you to get too happy, help me Keith. Yeah, you know. The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. They have a whole list of things that happened in 2022 and they're all incredibly depressing. So we'll talk about things in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and also Iran. Not if we turn your microphone. I know, right? Look at the time. India is asking the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage. And four gay couples have come forth to ask India's Supreme Court to recognize same-sex marriages, setting the stage for a legal face-off with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, which has in the past refused to legalize such marriages. Interesting story, also of a same-sex couple taking their case to Strasbourg after Poland refuses to recognize their overseas marriage. I have a thought on that. So a Polish same-sex couple have lost their long-running effort. Basically, they went to Germany and got married and came back and just wanted to register their marriage. They weren't even asking for healthcare or benefits or anything. In the legal system, it's not recognized. So now they're going back to the European Court of Human Rights. Side note, Poland was voted the worst country in the European Union for gay and lesbian rights. I am not surprised. Hungary, for like the 10th year in a row or something, this is not a badge of honor. Hungary should probably is a close second. Hungary's right up there. Also in Poland, they're blocking the European Union's proposals to ensure the rights of same-sex parents and their children being legally recognized by all of the other bloc member states have recognized the rights of same-sex parents, but not Poland. And then in Indonesia, European officials have raised concern. Indonesia has a new penal code when the country's president visited Brussels. He told them that they were now making it illegal to have sex outside of marriage. So not just the gays, but really anybody. Anybody that's no fun. You lusty creatures. I know. And then a marriage equality bill has been introduced in Greece. In Greece's parliament, an opposition leader and former prime minister Alexis Paras has said it will pass if his party wins in the upcoming elections. In Nigeria, homosexual acts are illegal under both the legal systems in the whole of Nigeria. Those living in the north are mainly Muslim, and people in the south are largely Christian. And there's also this Islamic police force. I remember reading about this last time, and they enforce a really strict moral code. And then Hungary, wait for it. You're on to something. It's right behind. The European Commission said on Thursday it's holding back 22 billion euros of EU cohesion funds for Hungary until its government meets conditions related to judiciary, independence, academic freedoms, LGBTQI rights. And their discrimination is pretty endless there. So I'll get into more detail on that, but over to you. Yeah, isn't it fun? So the trivia question, and we were all surprised, 1732 in his book, The Toast, William King was the first to use this name. What was it? So looking at events, if you're watching this show on New Year's Eve, when it will initially broadcast, it's still early enough. Fox Market, East Montpelier, they're doing a glitter New Year's Eve dance party. And they'll be there at least until two, which is past Linda's bedtime. But if Anne were up and dancing, she would go. She'd be in her prime. But also, Babes and Bethel, they're also doing a New Year's Eve party. And you may be asking, Babes? Babes is open. Wait for the news story. Safe space at the Pride Center. They are continuing their Rural Provider Education series. And the next one is going to be on Thursday, January 5th, from 10 to 11. And these are virtual events. You can go on to the website and register for them. Or on Monday, the 9th, from 2 to 3, this one is on gender inclusive language and pronouns. And I was thinking that it's really hard to try and keep up with the shift how people are self-identifying and being respectful of that. So even if you're not a provider, this may be something of interest. And they're going to be doing the series on the first Thursday and Monday of each month. And in February, they're going to be talking about supporting LGBTQ plus survivors. In March, it's going to be inclusive practices and barriers to access. And I was thinking of Washington County, which has really been doing some in the forefront work to ensure that people are getting services they need. And then in April, it's, does your agency have an accountability action plan? If you've discovered that there's something that's not in keeping with best practices, how are you going to respond to that? And Linda and I are already signing up for this one. On Wednesday, January 11th, and this is also a virtual event, the Pride Center is sponsoring Queer Witchcraft. Do you think that you may be a little intuitive and empathic and you'd like to know more about it? And how to sort of protect or share that gift? And keeping in mind, because Linda likes to share, keeping in mind outright Vermont, they're still doing their Friday night groups. They're in person in Burlington and they're virtual for the rest of the state. I just have to say, it's different. But in a way, I lived in New Orleans for a long time. And there was much of Udo in Witchcraft in New Orleans. So look out. What about Nuclear as Eve? You would have had to have registered BOT tickets and gotten to there before this airs. Well, sorry, everybody, hope you're watching this. We'll have a hangover the next day then. Well, no, I was thinking of what are the events that if you're watching this on New Year's Eve, you could still get to. Yeah, gotcha. And you could have access. Yeah. All right. All right. Now we're going to go to Salt Dakota and Governor Kristi Noem. Must be. Isn't that exciting? She has canceled the contract with a transgender organization right after right wing media denounced the group. The organization, the Transformation Project, lost its contract with Salt Dakota, Department of Health, with the department saying it failed to meet several contractual allegations. Officials of that group say that this is just a bogus excuse to get rid of them. So I'm surprised they contracted with them in the first place. I mean, this woman is like, well, anyway. And may have predated her. I know. A black transgender man was found dead in Philadelphia last week, having apparently suffered blunt force trauma to his head. The body of Marquise M.J. Jackson was discovered Wednesday in the backyard of his home in Philadelphia, Nicetown neighborhood. Pittsburgh lesbian correspondent reports that he hadn't come home for two days. December 12, which was his 30th, third birthday, his mother called several of his friends and acquaintances, and she eventually reached the occupant of the residence where his body was found. And Shotzi Weisberger, a lesbian, long time activist for many causes, nursed to people with AIDS and death educator, died December 1 at the age of 92. And her apartment in New York City. Weisberger had wide-ranging interest, and one of them was preparing for death in a conscious and positive fashion. She studied the subject of death intensely and led discussion groups on the subject. And we have a picture of her here. A Michigan man was convicted of killing, gutting, and eating the testicles. I know. It's a horrible story. He's trying to one up. That's what's happening. OK, carry on. Oh, god. This just got real. A Michigan man convicted of killing, gutting, and eating the testicles, and other body parts of a hairdresser he met on Grindr has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Makler Nunski, 50, pleaded guilty in September to the December 24, 2019 murder of Kevin Bacon, 25. I don't think I'm old enough to hear that story. I know. I know. A state appeals court in New York has ruled against Yesheva University in its efforts to deny recognition of an LGBT-plus group on campus. On Thursday, a four-judge panel of New York Appellate Division in Manhattan issued an unanimous ruling that Yesheva University did not qualify as a religious corporation exempt from New York City's human rights law. So that was. And then let's see. I have a story with a. Anyway, in October, the Health and Human Services Department issued nearly $110 million in federal funding for non-profit vibrant emotional health. The money is meant for the non-profit's 988 hotline that focuses on suicide prevention in marginalized groups, including LGBTQ-plus communities. In 2022, the Trevor Project released a study stating 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide while 14% attempted it. 43% of people surveyed also shared a fear of not being taken seriously. And Twitter, former head of trust and safety, has filed in his home due to and he has fled his home because of escalation and threats resulting from Elon Musk's campaign of criticism against him. A person familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday that Joel Roth, who resigned from the social media company in November, has in recent weeks faced a storm of attacks and threats of violence and internet Twitter communications journalists, including Matt Tabby and Barry Weiss, have been threatened and he had to leave his house. And the Office of Texas Attorney Ken Pax and Republican allegedly tried to compile a statewide list of transgender individuals by demanding information on any Texan who had changed their gender on their driver's license or other state IDs over the past years. Back in June, employees at the Texas Department of Public Safety received an email from top management asking for a total number of changes from male to female and female to male on their driver's license for the last 24 months, broken down by month according to the copy of the email attained by reporters. So what does he want this information for? They've got all of those laws that they have proposed and what Abbott has enacting by executive order. Remember, they're the ones with. I know, but what's he going to do with those names, hunt them down, give them out on the internet? What, I mean, you know, really? Is he going to prosecute them? You know, are you the sort of grooming extension? So I have an upbeat last story. I saved it for last. I was going to say, from some of your previous. I know. It wouldn't take much. The marks are pretty low. Go for it, Linda. Somebody didn't die today. Yeah, I know. Chef Dave Heidi has closed his Wisconsin restaurant after 15 years and as it was named for his child who has since come out as trans and changed their name in its place. Heidi will open two restaurants in honor of his trans first bond child who he no longer wants to dead name with his business. My kiddo doesn't go by the name that's on the restaurant anymore. Heidi said, they don't use that name. They go by a different name as a dad who loves their child to have their dead name on my shirt every day when I come home and their dead name on the restaurant. That's part of it. And that's why I want to change the name of the restaurant. Oh, that's nice. Oh, I know. So that was an upbeat story. All right. Let's bring down the mood, shall we? So we were talking about gender, self-determination. That's not bad, right? So minors age 12 and 13 will need a judge's authorization. But if you're between 14 and 16 in Spain, you'll have to be accompanied by your parents. But they're trying to change this so that up until now, transgender people needed a diagnosis by several doctors of gender dysphoria, which is the psychological condition of not feeling a match between one's biological sex and gender identity. Transgender rights groups have said the law represents a before and after an LGBT rights. Spain, while the voting session was due to take place, dozens of transgender rights activists gathered in front of the building listening to the debate on their mobile phones. It was a big to do. It's always been a problem when your ID doesn't match your identity in a job interview or at the doctor's office or when you're boarding public transport. We're so happy to get to this point. So then I was saying the Scottish Parliament also took this up. Having allowing people to transition by self-declaration, removing the need for that medical diagnosis. The new rule requires people applying for gender recognition to have lived full time in their declared identity for three months. That seems much more reasonable than two years or whatever it has been, right? Six months if their age is 16 to 17. The bill also lowered the minimum eligibility age from 18 to 16. The revised law establishes a three month reflection period during which applicants can change their minds. What else? Let's see. I can't read all of these. It's too depressing. All right, let's find something that's. Oh, you go ahead. In Sri Lanka, discriminatory laws and practices continue to violate the rights of LGBTQ people. And state forces are targeting women of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, earning them condemnation from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. Over in Pakistan, while the Transgender Act was passed, it's being challenged in the federal court by right wing interest groups. And anti-trans discrimination, harassment, and violence persists has even intensified in more recent years. And the same is true in Bangladesh. These are all places we need to remember we're talking about places we're not going to try to until they get their act together, right? There continues to be murders, judicial harassment, and forced disappearances in the Philippines, Thailand, and Myanmar. In Indonesia, there's a new criminal code which criminalizes sex outside of marriage, impacting not just LGBTQ people, but also women and religious minorities. In Malaysia, crackdowns, raids, and arrests are compromising LGBTQ spaces and isolating communities. In Iran, where two LGBTQ activists face the death penalty, our petition with All Out calling for their release stands close to 120,000 signatures. Over in Qatar, the World Cup may have ended, but the human rights violations and questions over the future legacy of the soccer FIFI. I don't know why they had it there in the first place. On address, people are outraged that they have that there. OK, so then India, in a historic verdict in 2018, India's top court decriminalized homosexuality by scrapping a colonial Arab ban on gay sex. Despite the ruling, members of India's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community complain about a lack of acceptance and discrimination against gay people in Indian society. So they're basically saying that 2018, they got some constitutional rights, but they still don't have the same basic rights. And somebody was quoted as saying, we can't do so many of the things in the process of living together and building a life together. Another couple said, I thought this was kind of cute. They held a two day commitment ceremony that they called my big fat Indian wedding. But once the euphoria faded, Keith, they still didn't have health insurance as a couple. So that's kind of a bummer. And they could be evicted from their housing. Yeah. You know. And then, OK, so the folks in Poland, we talked about earlier, the registry office refused. We're not going to Poland. No, no, no, no. Refused to file their marriage license. So they're appealing that. We talked about Indonesia, a new ban on premarital and extramarital sex, which will be punishable by a year in jail. And since same sex marriage isn't legal, many analysts believe this represents a de facto ban on homosexuality. So it's an end run. If nobody that's not married can have sex and you can't be married, there you go. You're in trouble. Then this is weird, too, the Virgin Islands. There's a case before the High Court, a same sex couple. Both Virgin Islanders were married abroad and, again, have mounted a legal challenge to have their union legally recognized in the Virgin Islands. And the Constitution provides that every man and every woman of marriageable age has the right to marry. And so they're fighting this in the court system. But there was a very heavy-handed article where the attorney general and the governors came together and said, we want to hear the people of the Virgin Islands should speak clearly and loudly on their views of marriage, blah, blah, blah. And then they go on to say that we have an obligation to the Lord and let us pray for divine guidance on which we ask. So you'll like this, Keith, in Nigeria. A police force claimed they did not intend to punish the 15 male and four female wedding guests that were arrested during a raid. Did you hear about this one? Instead, the group, which he said included gay people and cross-dressers, was undergoing counseling. And their parents have been urged to come forward. We'll explore the avenue of change before we charge them in court. First, we counsel them and involve the parents. Coversion therapy. And then we hope that they will change the lifestyle, the spokesman said, which the Islamic courts have never convicted anyone for being gay because they convert them instead. 18 people who attended a similar wedding ceremony last year had been released after signing a document that gave an undertaking that they would change their lifestyle if released from prison. And then in Hungary, we talked about their freezing billions of funds, their earmarked from programs including education for disadvantaged children, rail transport upgrades, access to broadband, and aid for regions affected by coal plant closures, a controversial Hungarian anti-LGBTQ law which limits schools' teaching about homosexuality and transgender issues, along with serious risks to academic freedom and the right to asylum mean that Hungary fails to comply with the EU charter of fundamental rights, the commission said, adding that cash could not be dispersed until Hungary restored compliance. Hungary's government has said the law limiting education on gender and sexual identity is designed to protect the children. Oh, happy day. Anne is frequently reporting on countries being sanctioned because they're not meeting the EU criteria for. Well, the EU stopped money going to Poland for a while, too. I don't know if that's changed, but, you know. Yeah, go ahead. No, I was just going to say I had something positive, is that your positive story? No, I'm going to have some positive. Oh, you do your positive for that. I just have one more thing to say because I have a clip. So this international lesbian, gay advocacy group said, these are our try-ups, people, for 2022. Yes? All right. A wrap-up of we're still here. All things LGBTQ is still airing. That's right. That's right. Our movements across Asia are getting stronger recognition and protection of LGBTQ rights are gaining more access to political, social, and cultural spaces. More and more institutions are affirming our right to live as we are. Some of our queerblings, is that a word? Queerblings. And South Korea can now freely serve in the military. I did not know that. As the Supreme Court ruled that the military prohibition of same-sex sexual acts should not cover consensual sex in off-duty hours. In Kuwait, a law criminalizing trans people was declared unconstitutional. While in Singapore, the colonial era prohibition of consensual same-sex sexual acts has also been struck down after years of struggle. In Vietnam, the health ministry affirmed that being LGBTQ is not an illness. Oh, thank goodness. That's so good to know. You mean I'm not contagious? In response to the proliferation of clinics for conversion therapy, marriage and family rights are increasingly being protected in some parts of Asia. In Tokyo, same-sex partnerships are now recognized, putting them a step closer to full marriage equality. Similarly, in Thailand, these are places we might consider, these are contingent things that could. In Thailand, a bill allowing same-sex civil partnerships has secured the approval of the cabinet. In India, queer families are now entitled to social benefits, with the Supreme Court declaring that familial relationships may take the form of domestic unmarried partnerships or queer relationships. Our struggles are almost paying off as more success stories are being heard in the Philippines, and a quality bill was just approved at the committee level after 22-year struggles for legal protections. In India, trans communities are making progress towards recognition, while the Supreme Court is now headed by a chief justice whose judicial record signals support for our community. In Bhutan, LGBTQ people are becoming more socially accepted one year after homosexuality was decriminalized. And then it goes on to say, our communities are facing different struggles, but we are solidarity building and making us closer to the future we demand. Yes. Yes. Well, you know, I was thinking Mexico and India and Japan, I think they're on a slow, I mean, I think they'll get there, but it's a slow slide into it, I think, you know. I think almost every county or whatever they called them in Mexico, I don't know, I can't remember, but except for one has legalized same-sex marriage. So we're not going there, but the other ones. Yeah. We need the other one. Yeah, yeah. So let me just quickly, because I happen to have a video for this, and I just noticed. People in the South Broad Ripple neighborhood are confused and frustrated after several people say their pride flags were stolen over the weekend. The culprit appears to be an Amazon driver wearing a blue vest. So I have a little video of him running off with the flags. So there you go. I know. But they didn't show up on the side of his van. They knew who it was. They could be there. You're so positive. I'm trying, I'm trying. It's a happy ending. Keep on the happy ending. That's a happy ending. There you go. Well, our last show, it was the church in New Hampshire where they kept stealing their flags. So they got stronger hardware. It's like, thank you. I said they should have gotten, they should have gotten a camera. So babes. And looking at some of the reporting, Owen, who is one of the owners who we have interviewed for this show, said, you know, was outside Saturday afternoon and is seeing rescue vehicles go by and sirens and lights. It looked at somebody and said, what's going on? And the response was, oh, a truck hit a building in that parking lot. And he looked over and he said, that's my building. Apparently there was this. And it truly was an accident. Nobody is thinking this is a bias incident, whatever. One pickup truck, full size, hit another and it pushed it into the side of babes. And that's a dangerous intersection right there, right where the- Well, and it's a historic building. So there were lots of concerns related to that. But where the pickup truck hit the building, it was the stairwell fire escape to the second floor. So Owen said they were really concerned because historic building, structural integrity, so they closed down. But a week later, all of the inspectors came through. They said the building is intact. You can reopen, but you have to do a limited capacity because you cannot use the second floor until all of the repairs are done, except to go to the second floor where the bathrooms are. So they are open on New Year's. They were very happy that this is their outcome and that they were not going to be closed for an extended period of time. Yeah, that would have been very expensive for them. Now, people may have seen some recent public media reporting about anti-LGBTQ plus stickers showing up around Burlington and that members of the community got together and they'd been going around the city looking for them and removing them. The mayor, the people within city government have gotten together to talk about what can we do, how can we respond to this. Well, that's only part of the story. From a meeting with the Human Rights Commission and the Office of Racial Equity, these stickers are clearly anti-trans. It's very specific, very focused and it didn't show up around the Burlington community. They were showing up in our schools. Really? And people were seeing them on the walls and the bathrooms and the school principals responded by saying, if you see hostile or hate stickers, please remove them without really giving airtime to what they said or what the intent was, but people had really started paying attention to this and people approached Sarah George who is the Shinton County State's attorney about, okay, what can we do? What is there for a response? And it gets into what you were saying, Linda, about the free speech. Yeah. There is no act of violence that's being promoted. There is no threat. So there's really little they can do about it, but they do know who is supplying these. They do? The individual may have a Twitter account. Only one? The primary individual, well, it's one of those that if I reached out to the Alliance Defending Freedom, they may give me resources and I just shared that, but there was somebody with the incidents in the schools who stepped up and said, yes, I've been paying for them. Anybody who wants them, this is how you can get in touch with me. Wow. So get ready, kids. And it's not illegal, apparently. It's freedom of speech. Remember, it's that fine line between about, so in an unrelated story, NBC Universal, they're shutting down their Nessan News and Vermont News Bureau. Why some importance to us is... It's mostly Boston, isn't it, anyway? No, well, the primary individual who has been running both of those bureaus is Jack Thurston, who, 20 years ago, was one of our first out reporters on WCAX and has moved through the system. And his photographer, Kika Broncher, who was actually the person who trained Jack, both of them were being let go. And Jack has won awards for his reporting, and he has been the individual who's been really responsible to ensure that the mainstream media is paying attention to us, that stories about us that impact us get airtime. So good luck, Jack. He's retiring or in essence... No, no, no, they laid him off. Okay. He is still in his prime as the photograph will show. And he has made public statements of, I don't know what's coming next. I don't know where I'm gonna land, but thank you for being supportive during all this time. So, you know, on the positive note theory, the Respect for Marriage Act that Joe Biden signed at the White House that invited LGBTQ-plus people from across the country. This is a great story. There was an event that might have happened the White House lawn where Taylor Small turned around, and there was her partner on his knees proposing. And I have two pictures of the proposal and the response. And there are no details that are forthcoming other than Taylor immediately said, yes. Yay. So good going. That's good. That's great. And it was caught on film. There were pictures. Yeah. Yes, nice. So glad our friends in Boston, they filed a suit on behalf of a transgender woman in New Hampshire, and it's against her employer, Turbocam. It's a machinist? They built, they built things. Like cans that are turbo. Like metal things. They built metal things. Metal things that were and bring. They built machinery is what they do. But they were denying her coverage for anything related to gender transition. And she is indeed in transition. And, but they extend full health care benefits to the rest of their employees. So there's a suit filed both with the New Hampshire Human Rights Commission because they have both sexual- Don't get away with that, New Hampshire. Wait. Up. Hold that thought. Because this is from the Turbocam website. Oh dear. Because it's like, I, you know, who are these people? You know, what's happening here? We specialize in manufacturing core turbo machinery flow path components for aviation, rocketry, automotive, turbochargers, power generation, offering bold and creative solution to today's challenging. We attribute our innovation to God's grace given freely to us. And we seek to reflect His goodness to all. I really didn't see that. Now I understand. I thought you were going to say just the opposite, we embrace everyone and then we're going to use that against them in the lawsuit. But why I picked up on this? God's grace. Hobby Lobby. When are they coming? Well, I still haven't gotten a date. No. You want to get rid of them. No, no, no. I know. Well, we're going to have signs. We're going to be there. We're going to be there. But what we didn't report on during our last show was the current case before our U.S. Supreme Court. See, hold this one in your thoughts. This is the 303 Creative. This is the woman in Colorado. She does website design. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She has LGBTQ plus clients. She works with them, but she was looking to create a website specifically for marriage. But because of her personal religious beliefs, she does not want to extend that to same-sex couples. So before she even develops the website before there is a lawsuit or a cat, there is nothing to it. She filed a suit saying, I want you to say that I don't have to do this, even though I haven't done anything yet. And all of the other courts had struck it down saying, wait a minute, there's no standing here because there's no case. There's nothing that's been filed. But the U.S. Supreme Court took it up. And they heard the arguments and listening to it. It seems as though they were siding with the woman who runs 303 Creative. However, and remember the masterpiece, cake decision where it was a very narrow decision. This is a similar scenario where the court is only hearing the argument on freedom of speech. They are not taking up the aspect of freedom of religion. Because there's always been this sort of division between what you can say and when does the religious freedom come in? And there's been a theory that the court is waiting for the case where there's a good argument where, oh, now we can do this. Religious freedom, which is why when I was reading about Turbocam, and we don't want to extend to eight healthcare benefits to pay for transition for someone who identifies this transgender because we're functioning under a kid's bingo. So we're gonna be following this case to see the appeal process. I'm fascinated because somebody that works in HR and health insurance, it wasn't that long ago that our plan didn't cover for the actual surgery. It covered for hormones and certain aspects of transition, but not others. And that became a real issue for us because we wanted to do the right thing. And our plan said that we couldn't because we were bound by the parameters. And then along comes the Affordable Care Act, which does cover it. And all the state going out to the marketplace, so it wasn't that long ago. And I'm really curious what New Hampshire, what their health carrier has to say about this, if they're self-funded, if they're in a managed plan, if they're part of like a PPA. Are they truly doing this in a discriminatory manner as it sounds? Or do they have some kind of legal out because it's not under... Well, that could go to the Supreme Court too, probably. Well, see, that's why I said the two cases and watching it because that would be employment, it would be healthcare, it would be multiple aspects versus just this theoretical. And... Well, when Hobby Lobby refused to pay for contraception, I mean, and they won't hire, I mean, how can this be legal? Well, you need to look at the insurance industry and if you are self-insuring, which means that Hobby Lobby is actually paying... On a per-claim basis and they get to define what the coverages are, that's different than being on a plan that's regulated by the state or federal government. Where you were running into problems with the HR is a lot of the health insurers model what they do or do not cover by virtue of what Medicaid would pay for. And at that point in time, there needed to be a change federally as to the parameters of Medicaid, Medicare, as you are so familiar with. Yeah. And then the individual insurers start getting in line. So... Yeah. And we have three minutes left. Let's hear the trivia. Well, I was gonna say, just very briefly about the bias and hate crimes with the FBI statistics and we briefly touched on it on our last show is there was an increase in violence against the LGBTQ plus communities. But there's also some significant difficulties because only 65% of law enforcement agencies in America are reporting statistics. There's questions about if cases are being properly coded. As Linda pointed out the last time, there was also concern that the FBI were using a new data collection platform and was there problems that agencies weren't up to speed with it? There is always a training in advance of, I'm sorry, you can, but what really got me is, and we touched on it briefly the last time, is that New York City... Los Angeles. And Los Angeles did not report at all. And Chicago, they reported, but they said they had no bias or hate crimes incidents. The city of Chicago. So it's, we know we're under attack just by what we're confronting. Anecdotally. These are the people who are supposed to be collecting the data to say, and this is what our priority should be. So, I mean, I could go back and find all the Chicago stories and what you know. I was gonna say, so our trivia and the reason I did it is, it just took me by surprise. 1732, in his book, The Toast, William King was the first to use this name and it was lesbian. And it was in reference to women who loved women. And that predates, faggot, gay, homosexual. Queer. Funny. Who would? Lighten their sneakers. Lighten the loafers. Lighten the loafers. Yeah, that's right. A librarian in comfortable shoes. That's what my father used to say. Lighten loafers, I know. You're gonna take us home now. I know. On that note, remember to resist.