 I'm Susan Lynde, and I'm filling in for both Linda Quinlan and Keith Gosselin, and I just want to say I'm embracing my fluidity here, and I'm going to be playing the part of both of them. Is it Gosselin? How does he pronounce it? I think Gosselin. I think Gosselin. Okay. Sorry you don't feel well, Keith, but he will be back to tell you all about himself and his illness. And Linda's traveling. And I'm Ann Charles. It's Monday, April 1st. Welcome to All Things LGBTQ. As you know, we're taping in Montpelier, Vermont, which we recognize is unceded indigenous land. And we have a range of announcements that we're going to deliver corally starting with Susan. I feel like I should have done some vocal warm-ups here. You should have robed. That's right. You know, like monks that chant and hit themselves in the head, but that's another show. So starting with, we have some rainbow umbrella events, some ongoing events, the women's discussion group, and the book discussion group. We are always looking for new members. And a couple of people have shined up. Oh, excellent. We are reading You Exist Too Much right now. And I have to say, I'm not going to spoil anything, I don't think, but I read the first 20 pages and I was hooked. Well, and I'm halfway through, I'm page 100, and Zaina Arafat. It's really compelling, I think. It is quite compelling. It's a really interesting storyline. So join us if you can. Yes. You know where to email us. Yes. And it's next Sunday, April 7th at 11 a.m., and if you reach out, we can send you a Zoom link, so the more the merrier. And I also noted when I was doing some research that Sugarbush is having their second pride fest. No kidding. This weekend, so I think if we air on Saturday, half the weekend will be gone, but on Sunday, they're having a drag brunch and a lot of other activities up there at the ski area, and Saturday they're doing, I think, pond skimming and a bunch of other things as well. So that's kind of a fun addition to some regional activities. And then we have Poem City in Montpelier, Monday the 8th, 6 o'clock at the Kellogg Hubbard Library, and LGBTQ poetry reading, featuring our very own Linda Quinlan, our very own Kim Ward friend, Sam Stockwell, and Toussaint-Saint-Negretut. Is that how we pronounce this? Yes, and I'm going to moderate. That's a good move. Oh, excellent. And Appropos Poem City, I'd also like to announce on April 13th, between 1230 and 2, Roots Dot Poets are doing a book launch involving our very own Kim Ward again. She's got a fabulous collection called Fire On A Circle, and if you tune into last week's interview show, you'll see us talking about it. The other poets are Amy Allen and Mary Elder Jacobson, and it's going to be at the Kellogg Hubbard Library also. Nice. And there's a complete list of everything that goes on there on their website. And then Lost Nation Theater, here in Montpelier, performances from April 4th through the 21st, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner, I Am My Own Wife, written by Doug Wright based on his conversations with Charlotte von Malstorff, Charlotte's an eccentric outsider who survived both the Nazi and communist regimes as a transgender woman. This production is a one-person show featuring Stoff Shear. In the past few years, she became one of the first openly trans and non-binary people to ever puppeteer. Now that's fascinating in Hollywood. And Kim Ward is trying to set up an interview with her. Oh, nice. So I hope that comes to pass. And tickets are on Lost Nation's website. Nice. So now it's my turn. Your turn, go ahead. The Savoy Theater in Montpelier. One show only, Saturday, April 27th, 4 p.m., The Indigo Girls. It's Only Life After All. Nice. I saw the trailer for that. I love The Indigo Girls. It should be fun. Stereotype of truth. No kidding. An intimate look into the lives of one of the most iconic folk rock bands in America, The Indigo Girls. With never before seen archival and intimate verite, the film dives into the songwriting and storytelling of the music that transformed a generation. It's a little the generation after me. The music that transformed my generation was Olivia Records. So it's an important tradition there. Carrier coffee and good measure brewing in Northfield, Thursday, April 18th, starting at 7.30 p.m., Queer Sex Ed Trivia, sponsored by the Pride Center of Vermont, free to play adult content when prizes more information in RSVP available via the Pride Center website. That seems interesting. I saw that. I'm curious. Central Vermont, BIPOC advisory group in Mosaic, Vermont, on April 8th, starting at 1.30 p.m., Christ Church in Montpelier, Solar Eclipse Community Wellness Gathering, and Viewing Party, free glasses, games, chair message, free and open to the public RSVP via Central Vermont BIPOC advisory group. I think that's chair massage. But you could get a message while you're in the chair massage. Right, right, right. Sorry, sorry. You are absolutely right. I'm just teasing you. No, no. I'm trying to figure out what to do for the Eclipse site. The world is saying do nothing. Don't leave your home, get gas, get lots of snacks. I think I may follow that route. I know this is kind of anticipatory, but there is an event coming up on June 19th that we said we would publicize. It's a special Pride Month event called the Mob and Stonewall, Unraveling the Mafia's Influence in the 1969 Uprising. Interesting. Join us at the Waterbury Congregational Church at 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 19th. It will feature an enlightening discussion led by Alex Hortus, acclaimed author of the Mob in the City. And I looked him up. He's very high-powered. Interesting. Alex will delve into the intricate web of relationships, revealing how the mafia intentionally played a part in sparking the historic Stonewall uprising. I know they were involved and they owned all the bars and were threatening people, but there must be more. Alex will also discuss Vermont's connections to activities of crime syndicates, preceding the discussion will be live music performed by Burlington-based duo, the Champlain Shorgasm. Those are our chorals. So that one you pronounced correctly. Yeah, really. All right, I see how it is with you. So, I've got some news. And the first piece of news, I thought this was interesting, Alejandra Caraballo, transgender attorney and instructor at Harvard Law's Cyber Law Clinic, had their account on X, formerly Twitter. Shutdown. Did you hear about this? Shutdown suspended and it sparked a discussion about their moderation policies because they outed a neo-Nazi and named them publicly and then people spread that information around. And apparently there's a policy that you're not allowed to out people publicly or make disparaging comments. And yet the right-wing people who make those kinds of comments and say hateful things about transgender folks are allowed to keep their accounts, right? So there was a big outcry and so they are getting their account back. It's still suspended for another seven days while they are punished for what they call doxing violations. Actually, a paragon of virtue. Exactly. And then we had the GLAAD Awards and part of the reason I enjoy reading this is it gives me things to want to watch. We joke every time I come here about we're going to make some popcorn and watch all of these movies. We had winners included fellow travelers, got the Outstanding Limited or anthology series, Ted Lasso for Outstanding Comedy, Yellow Jackets for Outstanding Drama, and RuPaul's Drag Race for Outstanding Reality Program, and the movie categories, Bottoms. Oh, I saw that. That's the only one I've seen so far. Outstanding Wide Release Film and Monica, haven't heard of that, for a limited release film, Renee Rapp won Outstanding Music Artist and former American Idol contestant David Archuleta won Breakthrough Music Artist. And it was hosted by Wayne Brady, he just came out as pansexual or one of those. And Oprah Winfrey won an award for being a sponsor of LGBTQ issues, and she apparently made a very endearing speech about, I did not know this, but she had a brother who died of AIDS. And so she was saying that she was, she never realized all the internalized shame he must have felt growing up gay and wished that he could have been here to have seen some of the advances that had been made, so that was interesting. Yeah, I saw a clip of that. It was very moving. And then, some rising concern over anti-trans hate crimes. One of the things that was surprising to me, and this article was, these statistics came from Los Angeles, which is, you know, purportedly a fairly, I don't want to say safe, but usually pretty trans-friendly. Hate crimes rose 18% between 2021 and 2022. Wow. 72% of the reported hate crimes were of a violent nature. And race was the most common motivation, constituting 57% of all hate crimes, which jumped up 14%. African-Americans were again grossly overrepresented and made up 53% of racial hate crime victims. And of course, when you combine African-American and transgender, that particular population is always at the top of the list. Not a list you want to be on. 18% were motivated by sexual orientation, and 81% of the crimes targeted gay men. Religious crimes spiked 41% in the last year, 83% were anti-Jewish. There were 44 anti-transgender crimes, which is the largest number ever documented. And immigrant slurs, an interesting statistic that I thought was that I would expect this to be larger, but hate crimes committed by gang members were 6% of all the reported. I would have expected that to be a little bit larger. So there's some work to do in that area. And then the next article is, Caitlyn Jenner, did you hear about this, has come out against allowing transgendered women to compete in sports. This is very weird to me, this is what I would say about that. But she said, we have to stop this while we can. And her claim is that this is about biology. It's not about being exclusive or intolerant. The attorneys on the other side of the fence are saying this is a baffling contradiction to her own identity. And of course the attorneys that are fighting, this particular case is in New York, Long Island and Queens, the fear is that such a high-profile athlete putting their support behind anti-trans legislation is going to contribute to the ongoing bullying of trans youth. And they're challenging this court's ruling, saying that it violates the state's anti-discrimination laws and it subjects women and girls sports teams to invasive questioning about their bodies and whatnot. A special education teacher in Maine settled a federal lawsuit against her former employer, which she claimed discriminated against her because she's a lesbian. This was in the York School District over in Maine. She was subjected to a series of degrading and humiliating remarks about her sexuality and those of other teachers and parents from her direct supervisor. Her supervisor asked her about her gaydar on more than one occasion, asked her to wear rainbow or pride-themed clothing when meeting with gay parents of a student as she described them as needy and used a limp wrist when describing the parents. She asked her, of course, repeatedly to stop and asked her if she and her wife had roles in their relationship. This is like every stereotype ever, right? She reported to the different program coordinators in the school, filed formal complaints, and then of course was fired. That's classic, right? She requested some medical leave and when she returned was given a letter of warning and then was fired despite having perfect performance evaluations. She was told that she did not work with her colleagues in a collegial manner, which disrupted the student's education. So they've settled. So here's hoping you got a big payout. Yeah. Last month was Women's History Month. And of course, throughout history, queer women and BIPOC and trans women have been pivotal in women's history. I printed out a list. I'm not going to read them all, but they had 15 people that have shaped women and queer history and a couple of them I had to actually, I had to look up. I feel like I do have to give back my card. I'm not, I'm not up on these things. One, Sally Ride. Oh, yeah. I did not know- Came out afterwards. Well, after she died. Yeah. After she died, her wife of 27 years. So she was closeted her entire life, but she was the first woman in space. Stormy DeLarvery, I hope I'm not mispronouncing that. The picture alone is worth, you know, the Googling, a biracial butch lesbian drag king. There's a lot going on there. Florence Nightingale. Who knew? I had no idea. Yeah. Who knew? Florence Nightingale. And it said she was a self-described lesbian. So, well, OK, all right. I'll take it. All right. We have, you know, the usual, we have Marsha P. Johnson and some Sylvia Rivera. And Eve Sedgwick, who is- Eve Sedgwick identifies as queer, I think. Women's, it said in the article, any women, any women's studies folks worth their salt would have heard of her because she was one of the first people to establish the conversation around queerness and not having to identify as wholly straight or homosexual, but having that sort of, it was more liberating to be more fluid and to have these larger conversations about queerness as a larger identity than being pigeonholed. And she was married to a man. Makes me want to read some books. A lot of these people were married to men. That's what I learned in my readings. Like, and they had some dalliances on the side, exactly. Or, you know, Rita finding the whole field as Sedgwick did, as you were saying. Exactly. Yeah. And then I'll do one more and then I'll let you jump in here. This was controversial as well. President Biden banned LGBTQ flags at all the US embassies. And remember, we were talking about that when I was here a couple of months ago, how states were doing that, like some of these Republican states, red states were asking the flags to be removed, saying next, you know, we'd be putting up ISIS flags or something, making this ridiculous connection between that. But the problem here was that the Republicans slid it into a spending bill that would have caused a government shutdown if he had not approved it, which is what they do, right? They're just going to slide these things in. So people are not happy about that. And the White House didn't immediately respond to a request for a comment on the loss of the flag. So although I read later that they said they're going to try to fight it. Yeah. And they said, well, you can fly the flag inside the embassy, which is not outside. That's hilarious. I know. I know. What a mess. I'm so irritated by that. Yeah. All right. Over to you. Let me start with a correction. Apropos of Linda's, Linda's reporting last week on on Women's History Month. She talked about Edith E. Day, who did start the first lesbian magazine called Vice versa. I challenged Linda's account at the time because I misunderstood. I thought she said the first print publication. So I talked about the first novel, but Linda was right. It was the first lesbian magazine. And her one of her nom de plumes is Lisa Ben, like the lesbian. She goes by. She went by Tigrina. She was a member of the Daughters of Bilitis, wrote for the latter after her vice versa magazine closed. And she started it to meet lesbians and was successful in meeting the lesbians. That's right. That's right. When did that start? 1947, I believe. And she died at 94 in 2015. And let's look at a picture of her now, Edith E. Day. What where Linda and I aired, though, was she appeared in that film before Stonewall in 1984 and we saw it in Madison. So she didn't appear. Well, she might have appeared, but they ran clips of her singing and so forth. Linda and I forgot that, but we had heard of her, but then we forgot. Now we know again. And now I hope the audience remembers, too. Nice. To when we closed out the show last time, Linda asked me a very thorny question about the Commonwealth and passports and visas and whether Commonwealth nations could enter the UK. And I looked it up and went down a rabbit hole. So my only response is that it's very complex related to the individual circumstances of the country and of the applicant. Now let's go to international news. And I'd like to start with a story that really I found very discouraging in the past when this incident occurred. I'd like to show you a picture now of Mariela Franco who was a politician in Brazil, an open lesbian, a grassroots activist and a lovely person. Two powerful politicians and an ex-police chief have been arrested over her murder. She was assassinated in 2018 and I reported on it at the time. It sparked an international outcry. She earned a reputation as a courageous defender of Brazil's minorities and a campaigner against police violence. The three men have been arrested as part of a federal police operation targeting the suspected masterminds of the 2018 assassination. The operation named Murder Inc was launched at the crack of dawn on Sunday and came just over six years after the shooting of Franco and her driver Anderson Gomez. Brazil in media reports that three prominent figures were arrested. The federal congressman, Shingkinko Brazau, his brother, the former state congressman, Domingos Brazau, I'm sure I'm not pronouncing that last name right, who is advisor to Rio's court of auditors and the former head of Rio Civil Police, Rivaldo Barbosa. The Brazau brothers have long faced accusations of involvement in organized crime, claims they have denied. During the 1980s, the men were reportedly known in Rio as the Beagle Boys. It's a translation in reference to the Disney cartoon villains. As news of the arrests broke, prominent left wing politician who is close to Franco tweeted the arrest today of the Brazau brothers and Rio's former police chief make clear who named the masterminds, oops, sorry, make clear who carried out this killing, who ordered it and who failed to investigate it. Franco, a 38 year old lawmaker from the Socialism and Freedom Party, was gunned down on the night of the 14th of March 2018 as she returned home from an event during her short career in politics. The Black, gay, favela-born activists had earned a reputation as a courageous defender of Brazau's minorities and an outspoken campaigner against police violence. Sunday's arrests appeared to be the result of a plea bargain that the trigger person has been arrested. And so he did a plea bargain that he struck with investigators to name the masterminds in exchange for a reduced sentence. I'd like to show you a picture of the protesters who are paying tribute to Mariela Franco and Anderson Gomez in March on the sixth year anniversary of their death. And I'd like to also show you a picture of Franco's widow, Monica Benicio, who voiced outrage at the ex-police chief's alleged involvement. This is not just a betrayal, it is an act, an attack on democracy itself. And unfortunately, it reveals a great deal about politics in Rio de Janeiro and how the underworld is connected to the police, she told reporters. Asked if she now feared for her own life, given the power of organized crime in Rio, Benicio said the pain of the murders had equipped the victims' families with irrepressible bravery. Nothing will conquer the fight for justice for Mariela, she vowed. Very sad story. And you know, when it happened, we all just knew it was corruption. And she was such a heroic figure and outspoken and called it like it was. And to come from the favela that's coming up out of nothing and extreme poverty just. And to be an open lesbian. Yeah. Quick story. The first same-sex couple adoption has been completed in Mexico's Baja California state. So that's good. Yeah. Now you have an interesting story from Ghana. A Ghanaian pastor warns against gospel music because 78% of musicians are gay. Really? This pastor and musician, Sonny Badu, is also a conservative pundit and a lead pastor of Rock Hill Church in Atlanta, who recently warned his followers against consuming mainstream media, including children's cartoons and gospel music, because they further the LGBTQ plus agenda. He also claimed without evidence, as I said, 78% of gospel musicians and pastors are gay or involved in LGBTQ activities. It's a very specific percentage. Did he take a poll? I know. I know. Then he expressed that he is so fearful of LGBTQ content. He has blanketly banned forms of entertainment from his house, his poor family. The LGBTQ agenda is not just in Ghana, he said, it's everywhere. It is in many countries, in their books, schools, cartoons, et cetera. Personally, in my house, my children won't watch cartoons again. These innocent cartoons are now suddenly sending messages to our children. It's disturbing as a parent. Now, as we know, Ghana recently passed a draconian LGBTQ plus criminalization bill, imposing sentences of up to three years in prison for people who identify as LGBTQ plus and up to five years for individuals forming or funding LGBTQ groups. The president has delayed his signing, and this is key, I think, pending a decision from the country's Supreme Court regarding a lawsuit brought against it by human rights groups. If the law goes through, not only will LGBTQ plus people's lives be upended, but the country itself stands to lose $3.8 billion from its international allies in the next five years and an estimated 850 million this year alone. So I'm really hoping that's persuasive because the president is no friend of the LGBTQ community. Now, I could go to Asia, or I could pass it back to you, what do you prefer, Susan? I think you should go to Asia. All right, a lot of exciting news from Asia. Let me show you a picture of a lesbian kiss from Thailand. Oh, see, now I have to tune back in and see the picture. Yes, yes, because lawmakers in Thailand have overwhelmingly approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. It's not a done deal yet. It has to go to the Senate and the president has to sign it, but it looks really good on both of those fronts. Let's look at this picture. Women kiss holding a poster to support marriage equality during a prime parade in Bangkok, Thailand on June 4, 2023. Lawmakers in Thailand's lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a marriage equality bill on Wednesday, March 26, 2024, that would make the country the first in Southeast Asia to legalize equal rights for marriage partners of any gender. So that's really positive news. Yeah. Thailand has a reputation for acceptance and inclusivity, but it struggled for decades to pass a marriage equality law. Thai society is largely conservative, according to this article, and LGBTQ members of the community face discrimination in everyday life. Government and agencies and state agencies are historically conservative, so there's been difficulty in pushing civil servants to accept change. It goes to the Senate and then to the president, as I said, and this would make the first country or region in Southeast Asia to pass such a law in the third in Asia after Taiwan and Nepal. So, good news on that front. I tried to start out with good news, and then it goes bad during the course of the coverage. More good news. Israel High Court offers orders government to redo birth certificates for same sex couple moms. The petition was brought in 2017 by a group of nine same sex couples who had children through anonymous sperm donation. After the population and immigration authority refused to request to amend birth certificates, so both mothers appeared on the document following a legal adoption process by the second parent. The authority had argued that birth certificates, a birth certificate reflects biological parentage at the time of birth and is a document that is frozen in time. Not so, said the courts. The judge who ordered the ruling rejected that argument and attorneys who represented the petitioners praised the ruling for putting an end to the ugly and necessary discrimination. Justice Alex Stein noted that birth certificates should include options for parent, parent, father, father, or mother, mother, parents, depending on the family's request. This, he said, aligns with the principle that the state should be neutral. What a concept in regards to the types of marriages and families that its adult citizens choose and should not dictate only one for them, one monolithic option for relationship and family. Now there's a particular, I don't think Israel has, let me just tell you quickly about a wrinkle with, there's something about marriage. I don't think Israel has gay marriage yet. And I'm sure I have a note about that, but I will tell you about it next time. We don't want to delay. Oh, here it is. Currently the state of Israel does not have provisions for civil sex marriage, civil same sex marriage. Couples can get legally married abroad to qualify as married in the eyes of the state and some municipalities offer legal benefits to same sex couples. I'm kind of surprised by that. But there we have it. One more Asia story. Russia deems LGBT, including Russia in Asia at this time, Russia deems LGBTQ bar managers, terrorists and extremists ahead of trial. You may have heard about this story. Russian authorities have designated two managers of an LGBTQ bar terrorists and extremists after their arrest in the first criminal case of its kind since the new crackdown on sexual minorities in Russia. They face up to 10 years in prison on charges of extremism and promoting nontraditional sexual relations among the visitors of the bar. According to and the Orenberg where it happened tribunal has said they will remain in custody until May 18th. The pose name of the bar was pose. Its administrator is Diana Kamalova, 28 and her artistic director, Alexandria, Klimov 21. They were detained earlier this month. Law enforcement had raided the bar during a drag show on March 9 and videos of humiliating detentions of some of the club visitors circulated online. The arrests come amid an ultra conservative turn that has accelerated since the criminal launched its Ukraine offensive, casting the conflict as a battle against the West and its liberal values. On in December, 2022, Putin widened the 23 line law banning the promotion of nontraditional relationships to children to criminalize any positive public mention of LGBTQ plus relationships in this raid occurred during a drag show. So now I've got Australia and Europe. So let's go to you. Okay. So no charges are going to be filed in the death of next Benedict. This is, yeah, what do you think about that? I think it's bogus. I, you know, I haven't, you know, I looked at this when it first happened and it was following along with it. And basically, the attorney general is saying that because the student died of suicide, not because of the injuries caused in the fight. That this was an instance of mutual combat is what they said. I don't see somebody picking a fight in a bathroom and that's being a mutual. I mean, based on the severity of the injuries that doesn't. I don't buy one person being beaten up by five as mutual combat. That's somebody beating you up, I think. Um, they said they found some brief notes written by next that appeared to be related to the suicide or there were some notes about probably feeling unsafe and, you know, being fearful for their safety. And it says the notes don't make reference to the earlier flight or difficulties at school. The parents indicated that Benedict reported being picked on for various reasons. While at school, the contents of the notes are not going to be released next, of course, was transgender and used he and they pronouns. All of the students in the fight were minors. The DA said, adding that if charges were justified, the charges would be handled as a delinquent child cause of action in a juvenile court of law. I don't have a reasonable belief that the state of Oklahoma could sustain its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt if charges were presented, said the attorney general. Remember that next got into a fight with other students on February 7th, his mother took him to the hospital and called police to report the fight. In a statement last week, the family called on schools, administrators and lawmakers to come together and push for reforms that seek to end bullying. Reforms creating school environments that are built upon the pillars of respect, inclusion and grace and aim to eliminate bullying and hate are the types of change that all involved should be able to rally behind nexus family said. And the thing about no charges and no follow up is that that's a signal that it's okay to continue to do that. You're putting all these kids at risk all over the country now and the establishes a precedent that, you know, just a scuffle in the bathroom and make life so miserable for the kid, you know. And what it's also disturbing is the attitude of the superintendent and the Oklahoma officials. Yeah. So isn't the Justice Department, they're calling for investigation from the Justice Department of the FBI or some federal body. Yeah, I'm sure they're going to appeal that. It didn't say that in this particular article. But yeah, I hope they're able to because the atmosphere there is awful. And this has shown a spotlight on it. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, Susan. I know. RuPaul shades masculine white gay men who project internalized homophobia. And this was interesting in a world unforgiving to marginalized groups that RuPaul has managed to take parts of his identity that might have held him back and use them to build this career. He said when he was growing up, he felt a real disconnect between himself and the two communities, the gay and people of color communities. He said, I was really confused. I assumed that every gay person had the same experience that I did. And he felt that thinking outside the box was just part of being gay, but he realized that wasn't the truth. On the one hand, he witnessed a religious black community that would practice piety by day, but would visit a brothel with transgender sex workers at night. And on the other hand, he experienced a queer community made up of masculine white gay men who scorned anything ethnic or feminine. Isn't that interesting? Yeah. Interesting sort of dichotomy there. He said both groups were actually hiding and trying to distance themselves from the same things. But those things would end up being the icon's greatest strengths as he forged relationships, beats and authenticity. As I got older, I realized that there were different experiences. And I found my true tribe and what we had in common was thinking outside of the box, being Bohemians who recognized that the emperor wasn't wearing any clothes. And our creed was, don't be fooled by the superficial, get down to the realness. How cool. I like that. I like how you get behind that. Yeah. Campus drag show went all the way to the Supreme Court. Did you hear about this? No. The Supreme Court rejected a request made by an LGBTQ2Q student group hoping to host a PG-13 drag show. That made me snicker a little. I have to say PG-13 and drag show. They wanted to do a drag show on Texas A&M University. Oh, a drag show. They will not be able to hold the event. No dissenting votes were noted and the court didn't explain its decision. The university said drag shows are derisive, divisive and demoralizing. The LGBTQ group members say under free speech under the Constitution that our rights were violated pointing to a university policy that bars administrators from denying access to facilities based on political, religious or ideological views. So that's concerning. More positive news, though, the state of Washington's governor signed a law last week that includes a mandate for the state's public schools to teach LGBTQ history. That's kind of cool. As red and blue states continue to diverge on whether schools should expose kids to gay and transgender identities. There's a new law, Senate Bill 5462, that the state school district should adopt curriculate as culturally and experientially diverse as possible, including histories of LGBTQ people, people of color, and people with disabilities. Schools will be required to institute the inclusive curricula by the 2025-26 school year. That's cool. He said he was happy to sign legislation to ensure students of all races and identities feel safe and welcome at school. He should go visit Oklahoma. He should take this act on the road. He pointed to research from NBC News that suggests LGBTQ inclusive curricula can reduce rates of bullying and make children feel safer in school. Absolutely. I've seen firsthand how important inclusive curriculum is and how life-changing it can be to help a student see themselves in the curriculum instead of some old dead white guys from the 1700s. I love that. Washington is the seventh state to enact legislation mandating public schools incorporate LGBTQ inclusive curricula. Now I need to know the other six. California, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, and Illinois. So where's Vermont? Interestingly, these states have all been won by Democrats in the last four presidential elections. Connection, perhaps? Seen but not heard. The New York Times failed to quote trans people in two-thirds of their stories on anti-trans legislation. This is so interesting because a petition went around several months ago. I signed it. Impact is a subscriber. Nothing happened. Well, there was a big hoo-ha exchange of commentary and statements, but let me let you finish the story. A new report finds that the New York Times excluded the perspectives of trans people from two-thirds of its stories following public criticism for its handling of the topic. They had previously reported that they helped fuel a right-wing anti-trans panic in 2022 by platforming anti-trans extremists, painting rising transgender identification as a social contagion and fear-mongering about the cost of transgender acceptance. In February of 2023, the paper received two separate open letters from a coalition of 150-plus organizations and leaders, including GLAAD, and a separate letter from you and by hundreds of times contributors that criticized contributions to a deadly anti-LGBT culture war. So 66% of the articles didn't quote even one trans or gender non-conforming person. These are in articles specifically written about this. 18% of the articles quoted misinformation from anti-trans activists without adequate fact-checking or additional context, and six articles obscured the anti-trans background of sources erasing histories of extremist rhetoric or action. They're publishing the other side of the story without saying, by the way, this person's a neo-Nazi or some winged out or whatever. So that's not good news. I'm glad that issue hasn't died, though. Yeah, people are still talking about it. And then Disney and DeSantis, I've been following this for a long time. This has been going on for over a year now. They're coming to some kind of settlement. I remember this was the whole thing that DeSantis was trying to revoke, some of the tax status of Disney because he didn't like the, and that prompted the whole, don't say gay and all that. So Disney sued DeSantis and his allies claiming the company's free speech was violated. DeSantis said, everything we've done is in the interest of the state of Florida. Not so much. Not so much for sure. He ended his presidential bid and now he views the settlement as a mutual victory. We're pleased to put an end to all this litigation. The spat became a source of distraction for Disney and a criticism for DeSantis, even among Republicans. Last year, Iger called DeSantis's actions toward Disney anti-business and anti-Florida. And in May, he said the Florida governor's attack on Disney could threaten the company's future investment in the state. DeSantis stepped up his own attacks on Disney. At one point, accused Disney of adding a lot of sexuality into the programming for young kids, something the company denies. And then finally, I wanted to share this. This is not related really to anything. I did have a little trivia question, but my daughter pointed this out and I wanted to share with a group I sent to you. Have you seen Becca Ballant's new campaign? A little bit. On Instagram, check it out. I sent you the picture. It basically says, I'm voting for a scrappy little dyke. Are you? Here's the picture. You know, I was like, wow, that's putting yourself out there. I'm proud of you. And fun fact, this is non-sequitur sort of. So in my new job, they have an office in Burlington. I've been going up to Burlington. It's right on Church Street. My next door neighbor is Becca Ballant. How cool is that? I haven't seen her yet, but I'm thinking, I'm going to see her like putting in the code to the women's bathroom, out in the hallway, in the parking garage or something. So that's pretty cool. That is very cool. And sometimes I'm a little ambivalent about the political process, but Becca Ballant and Emma Mulvaney-Stanik have given me hope. But to really just put that out there. And when people reclaim words that are pejorative or disparaging, I love that. But anyway, check it out. Well, when she first started, there was a meeting of, I think, first-year Congress people, and they said, describe yourself in three words. That's what she said. And afterwards, all the LGBTQ staff and everyone circled her. So how cool is that? Good for her. Yeah. Well, I have, are you going to bum us out now? No, not really. There's been a grueling overnight, let's go to Australia now, please. There's been a grueling overnight debate resulting in a gay conversion therapy ban in New South Wales. Yeah. Yeah. So it's been officially banned in the largest state in Australia to do so. After hours of debate, the bill was finally passed 22 to 4. They got out at 6.30 the following morning. The environmental minister and legislative council leader, Penny Sharpe, said the bill evidenced how harmful practices have no place in New South Wales. What it has done today is to say to our LGBTQ community that you are fine just the way you are and that we will look after you and that we will protect you. So good news there. More good news from Australia. Australian Senator Penny Wong is getting married to her long-term partner Sophie Alouche. And let's look at a picture of them. The high-profile and intensely private labor front bencher shares two daughters with Miss Alouche, whom she met 20 years ago in 2016. The celebration of their long-term partnership has thrilled friends and supporters with the wedding expected to be attended by the prime minister and other dignitaries. The tales of the wedding remain a closely guarded secret. However, people are starting to get invitations. It marks the celebratory end of a long and sometimes painful journey towards marriage equality and the evolution of Senator Wong's views on the subject. This is sort of interesting. She wept in 2017 when she learned Australians had voted for marriage equality. But then she condemned seven years earlier. She had sparked controversy when she stuck to the party line and declared she respected labor's view of marriage as an institution between a man and a woman. On the issue of marriage, I think the reality is there is a cultural, religious, historical view around that which we have to respect. So then, of course, there's a major backlash within the same-sex marriage movement. And because she was a lesbian political leader in Rome, she changed her mind, continued to work for reform. She confirmed she was gay in August 2002, shortly after she was elected to the Senate. Her sexuality has never been a secret to her friends, colleagues, and supporters. She told her biographer that given she was never in the closet, there was no need to come out. So she's had a conversion experience, good thing. And now she's partaking in the ritual that she once opposed. Interesting. Europe. Let's look at a film clip of Lie With Me, which is from France. Novelist Stefan Belkor agrees to be a guest of honor at a celebration for a famous brand of cognac, even though he doesn't drink. When Stefan returns to his hometown of cognac for the first time in 35 years, he meets Lucas, the son of his first love, Thomas Andru. Stefan and Lucas go on an occasionally painful journey of discovery about who Thomas really was and why he did what he did throughout his life. So let's take a look at a clip of Lie With Me. Mr. Belkor, do you have a good trip? Yes. Well, it's been a long time since you came back? 35 years since I left, actually. Let me introduce you to our great writer, Stefan Belkor. Good evening. Your name? Andreu, Lucas Andreu. Oh, that's funny. I met Thomas Andreu at the high school. He was 150 years old. He was my father, I think. Do you know him well? Like that. You won't tell anyone. It's hard to imagine him with friends. Come on. At the farm, it was work, work all the time. He was like my father. What the hell are you doing here? I told you it must be between us. Do you realize that? You're going to barge in and I'm going to stay. I know that if I stay, I'm going to die. And you too. The only way to light up is to go to the TV. Who are you for? Why don't you answer me? Do you still want to surprise me like that? Your farm left me the day after tomorrow. Like for you, without a word, without an explanation. What are you going to tell me? I'm very uncomfortable, so calm down. Stefan, do you have your ticket waiting? I'm sure you won't stop there. What's going on, Lucas? Explain to me. Everything's fine. I'll tell you later. Everything that left me is questions. But I loved him like a madman. Josh looked kind of painful. Do we know where it's going to be available? Well, yes. Thank you for answering. Apple TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, Movies and TV, and Fandango at home. Now, the most... I'm really kind of bummed out by the next story with which I will close European news. Oh. We have a red car. The Irish Prime Minister has unexpectedly quit. No. Let's look at a picture of him saying goodbye in his last press conference. He announced on Wednesday that he was stepping down as Ireland's Prime Minister in a surprise move saying the country's coalition government would stand a better chance of re-election under another leader. The last time I reported on his round defeat, he tried to amend the Constitution to make it more woman-friendly and take out the roles and it was voted down. The shock departure of a red car became the first day Prime Minister of the once staunchly Catholic country in 2017 and returned to the premiership just 15 months ago does not trigger a general election. So vote must be held by March 2025. He must have somebody in mind though, right? Well, yeah. He's saying there's other people that... There's one guy. Maybe more moderate. Is that what he's saying? That he'll be more successful with someone else? Yeah. That's a bummer. There is Harris, his name is, but I'll tell you about him in a minute. My reasons for stepping down are both personal and political. The red car 45 told a hastily arranged news conference sounding emotional as he spoke. But after careful consideration and some soul searching, I believe the new tee shock and a new leader will be better placed than me to achieve the coalition governments re-elected. Bookmaker Patty Power, the 37-year-old higher education minister said, 37-year-old Prime Education Minister Simon Harris who was health minister during the COVID-19 pandemic was the clear favorite to take over. There are other contenders. The former deputy prime minister who lost a red car has ruled himself out. And a new prime minister, whoever it is, will not change the direction of the policy program. We reported last time he was with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden last week in Washington talking about Israel and Gaza. He said it was the right time for him to step down, that he had nothing else lined up and that there was no real reason behind his decision. Politicians are human beings. We have our limitations. We give it everything until we can't anymore and then we have to move on, he said. So that's very sad. Although, you know, he said he was a businessman and politics wasn't his lifelong profession. Nevertheless, it was kind of surprising and I think it's a real loss for Ireland personally. So do we have any last words before we go up there? Do we? I'm still thinking about Florence Nightingale. Turned into this show, you learn everything. Oh, I know, I was surprised too. Well, I always have a couple of things to say. Of course, you always have more things to say. I've been watching international news and really cheered by the events in Turkey. Because, you know, Erdogan is pretty right-wing and there were local elections and the opposition party scored heavily and it was a big rebuke to Erdogan. And he's about to be termed out, but he's thinking of changing the constitution so he can continue in power. So he's kind of humbled and he said, well, he's going to listen to the people and change things. That's being not so great with LGBTQ people who's done bad things cause inflation to rise and so forth and kind of mishandled that. And the other thing, we reported on a hate crime law in Scotland last year and last show and there's been a lot of backlash about it. Some people say that it's confusing and then other people say, well, trans people are just going to try to seize the narrative. That's bullshit. Oh, I thought of something. I watched a special on Netflix. Do you know Hannah Gadsby? Yes, yes. She has a new show called Gender Queer. Have you seen this? No. Check it out, check it out, check it out, people. Apparently she had a bit of a run-in with the executives at Netflix. They made some anti-trans comments and she penned a letter and she's actually really funny. She's pretty self-despirited. She's self-deprecating. She is on the autism spectrum and so she said, I often say things that come across in writing a little different than intended and sometimes not. So she wrote a pretty strongly worded letter to the president of Netflix who then offered her a show with genderqueer and trans stand-ups, comics. And so she has a show on. It was filmed in London. Many of the folks are Americans. There's a couple of Brits and some other people but super funny and very LGBTQ affirming. Well, that's a great note to end on. So for the next two weeks and thereafter, resist.