 I'm Keith Ghostland. I'm Ann Charles. And I'm Linda Quinlan. And welcome to All Things LGBTQ. Today is Tuesday, November 29th. And we're recording at Orca Media in Montpelier, which we acknowledge as unceded indigenous land. Keith. Yeah, that would be me. Yes. So the trivia question, and this is an easy one, Ann didn't pause. So it's not like best is a lot of people who wouldn't know this. Well, we're about to find out. So we're about to send Becca Ballant to Washington. We know that she's not going to be the first openly queer person in Washington. But have we ever had anyone in the White House? So looking at events, and we have Rainbow Umbrella with the Women's Discussion Group, whose notes I eagerly worked forward to. And the book group, I hadn't forgotten you. OK. Because we'll be having dinner later, and I want to make sure you don't steal all my onion rings. And we just picked up the book. We should have brought it in for show and tell. Oh, yeah. OK, so in two weeks. OK. So the first thing is queer craft fair. And we had announced this before. They were looking for vendors. Well, it's going to be happening on Saturday, December 17, from 10 until 4 at the old labor hall on Granite Street in Berry. And this is a chance for us to go out and support our queer craftspeople and businesses. So that's three times. Yeah, good. So also, December 10, babes in Bethel. We still need to get down there. They're doing another queer dance party from 8 p.m. until midnight. Nice. Queer Connect did their year in review. And they said, OK, these are the things we're looking forward to in 2023. Launch a queer affirming garment scholarship for youth. More events throughout Pride Month. We may have to start moving out. Support groups, LGBTQIA book initiatives at schools looking at what's happening in other states, and actually getting a physical space. So that's all very exciting. Social tinkering in Rutland is promoting a webinar achieving equity and inclusion in Vermont's natural spaces for underserved communities, visible and invisible barriers to nature compound the disproportionate mental and physical health burdens they already bear. We often say, all are welcome, but who really belongs? So they're doing the webinar on Thursday, December 1, from 5 to 6.30 p.m. And you can go on social tinkering's website to get more details. Employment, and isn't everybody looking for help these days, outright Vermont, they are hiring an education manager. And this is somebody who will champion the implementation of school-based transformational curriculum across Vermont. There you go, Ann. If she's not here next week, you'll understand what happened. Pride Center is also hiring. They are looking for someone for their transgender program health and wellness advocacy. And they are also looking for a health and wellness coordinator. And both of these look to be full-time positions, and they're a hybrid, some in-office time, remote access time. But probably the employment opportunity that's the most exciting. Would you like to go to Washington, DC? I wouldn't mind. Becca Balanced's campaign is looking for people to hire to work in her Capitol Hill office. And in her Vermont office. Exactly. So if you are interested, we will put up the contact information so that I can put it across the bottom of the screen. Does it pay? I managed it. Oh, absolutely. Maybe they pay expenses. Well, what were you saying? I imagine they pay expenses, moving expenses, and so forth. But I don't know. We're speculating. I'm kind of hoping they do. I'm ready to spend a few years in Washington. Are you? I spent time in and out of Washington. And the other thing that's coming up is the Safe Space Program at the Pride Center is doing a rural provider series of training. What I'm thinking of is our health care providers, social service agencies counseling on aging. And this is what you need to know about providing services to the LGBTQ plus community. And some of the things that they're offering in is once a month for an hour at a time in December. And it would be on December 1st. It's introduction to LGBTQ plus identities. In January, it's gender inclusive language and pronouns. I may want to go to that one. February is supporting LGBTQ plus survivors. March is inclusive practices and barriers to access. April is making an accountability action plan. So I mean, that all looks very exciting, very encouraging of reaching out and how can providers better identify and meet our needs. Well, good. With that, you're going to take me to foreign distances again. I am. Let me start in Europe where there is good news. The Italian government, which we recall, has just been elected in its very right wing. They lose a court battle over ID documents for gay parents. Same-sex parents have the right not to be called father and mother. In the ID papers of their offspring, a court in Italy has ruled in a decision that rubs against the country's new right wing government. What a shame. Prime Minister Giorgio Malone, whom we've seen a picture of in the past, sees herself as a defender of Christian values and of what she calls traditional family. And her hard right, Brothers of Italy Party, is particularly hostile to same-sex parenting. Nevertheless, a judge in Rome ruled in favor of a lesbian couple who opposed current rules for the identity cards for minors, which must include a reference to parents or legal guardians. Until 2019, they were identified as parents. But this was changed by the far right leader Malone and her ally Matteo Salvini, then interior minister. He ordered the wording to be changed to father and mother. Of the two women in the court case, one of the two women in the court case has given birth to a daughter who was later adopted by her partner, making them both legally recognized partners. And the judge said that calling one of them a father made no sense. Good. His ruling was issued in September, but was only publicized on Wednesday according to rainbow families and association that represent same-sex parents that supported the lesbian couple. The verdict is final. This is a nice twist. Because Italy's previous government, led by technocrat Mario Draghi, passed on an opportunity to appeal it. It only applies to this specific case, unfortunately, not all same-sex unions. So until the laws change, it's up to the initiative of individuals to challenge the ID rules. Still similar cases are pending in the courts. Malone's office said in a statement that it would study the ruling very carefully because it presents obvious implementation problems. So they're going to start stalling about it. And this right-wing government also added that the ruling puts at risk the workings of the national ID system. So good news. Now, much of this international news concerns the World Cup. And so I'll start with a story from England involving the renowned activist whom we've covered on this show before, Peter Tatchell. So let me show you a picture of Peter Tatchell at the Katari Embassy in central London, flanked by demonstrators. They are calling on fans to boycott the World Cup games or use social media to highlight the human rights abuses. And one thing that I found particularly maddening, this week, is that everybody is watching, everybody is covering it. No, there's been no mention on any major network about any human rights abuses or any anti-LGBTQ activities. In fact, I did see a maddening speech, press release, by the president of FIFA who said, I am gay, meaning that he grew up in Switzerland as a redhead and was bullied because of that. This is the kind of irritating discourse that is surrounding these games. But anyway, Peter Tatchell is on the watch. He's warned Katari that the world's eyes will be on the country during the World Cup. This occurred before it started. Protesters, he and protestors gathered outside the embassy to highlight the dangers faced by LGBTQ plus people, women and migrant workers. He said it was outrageous that figures including David Beckham, which I didn't know until I saw this article, were promoting Qatar in the tournament, in effect, asking fans to ignore human rights abuses and the country's record on LGBTQ plus issues. Tatchell, 70, whom we've spoken of before, was arrested in Doha in October for staging a one-person protest outside the National Museum of Qatar. And I remember I wanted to cover that, but we ran out of time. So he was speaking at this demonstration on Saturday in an area of London peppered with embassies and high commissions, a stone's throw from Hyde Park. And Linda and I were in London and we were in that area and we came across many years ago, Nigerian protesters. About the lost girls. Who were protesting the kidnapping of those girls. But anyway, Tatchell says, our message to Qatar is that the world is watching. We are here to shine a light on the regime's abuse of women, of LGBTs and migrant workers. We are also sending a message of solidarity and love to those brave Qataris who are struggling for democracy and human rights. So there were 50 people there and they chanted no freedom, no football, shame on FIFA, shame on Qatar, shame on Beckham. Good, it's disappointing that you're saying that none of the major news networks are really carrying the human rights abuses. And this tournament that they were given and it's got to be an influx of how many billions of dollars of revenue for them. And I've got so much more about all the activities at the games and on the sidelines. But I thought I'd give you a break for a minute and go to Australia where a film called Lonesome is set. It's directed by Greg Borum and it was released in 2022 this very year. It centers on Casey, a young man who grew up on a ranch in rural Australia but moves to Sydney when he is rejected by his father for being outed as gay. The film's cast includes Daniel, Gabrielle is Tib, a casual sexual hookup with whom Casey gradually develops a deeper emotional and romantic connection and Ian Roberto says Pietro, an older gay man who offers Casey work as a houseboy. So let's look at this kind of steamy clip of Lonesome. What happened to you? And night boys like you being on your own, you like it that way. He was, are you a real cowboy? What brings you to Sydney? Never seen the ocean. Never? No, I always wanted to. I thought I'd come check it out. Is that what you imagined? There was this guy I was saying he was married and a young family. So lazy I guess. Someone saw us where I'm from. It's not lucky. Where's your son? I wasn't the most supportive of him. I just developed. Where could I see more of this steamy clip? You have to look for it. You have to look for it. It's premiered at the Sydney Film Festival, of course. And it's being released in festivals and start continuing to kind of make its way around the world slowly. I can continue. One more. Well, my World Cup story is more than one more. I can go to South America. Okay. Let's take a look now at Venezuelan LGBTQI activists who are staging a protest to demand equal rights in Caracas. They have, their names are Cody Campos, activist. Paul, I couldn't find his last name or any information about him, but he's there in the picture. And Johan Chevarria, who is a barber who is in a wheelchair. And he was in the wheelchair before he came out. And he's part of their, they've chained themselves. They've chained themselves together in front of the Ombudsman's office in Caracas to demand a statement of support for their community among requests and demands for equal rights. Rochelle Rensenio is talking for the three and she said they've been pressured by officers to stop their protest. There was pressure on them to leave. They were threatened with having their chains removed, with cutting their chains because the police said that this is a security zone, yeah, yeah, yeah. And therefore their action was illegal. The spokesperson added that other activists had come to demonstrate their support and brought them clean clothes because there was a big rain pour in the middle of their protest and their clothes had gotten soaked. That was Monday afternoon. The protest will be continued until the Ombudsman, Alfredo Ruiz, another or another significant official comes to the demonstration to initiate a dialogue between the government and the protesters. There are three boys including this person with a disability are not ready to end their chaining. On the contrary, they're threatening to launch a hunger strike in the coming hours if there's no response. The demonstrators are demanding the nullification of an article in the Military Justice Code penalizing homosexual behavior with up to three years in prison, a matter on which this Ombudsman has not commented. In addition, they're asking for transsexuals to be able to change their names, a right that was enshrined in the 2009 civil register law but has not been facilitated by the authorities. So some members of the LGBTQ communities are living with names that do not correspond to their gender. They are also asking the National Assembly, then his way was parliament, to discuss the bill on marriage equality introduced in 2014 of the lawmakers have never undertaken to debate the measure. So that's our news from South America. Okay. Well. Okay, on to you, Linda. Well, go on to the national news. Okay. And isn't there a lot? Yes. President Joe Biden and First Lady, Jill Biden called the owners of the Q Club. A gang nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which last week a gunman killed five people and injured more than a dozen. The two offered their condolences to the owners, Nick Griska and Matthew Haynes, according to the White House. President Biden also called Richard Fierro this week. Fierro took down the gunman and along with other patrons held him down until police arrived. The boyfriend of Fierro's daughter, Raymond Green Vance was killed in the attack. The father of the accused club, Q Shooter, has expressed relief that his child isn't gay. Aaron Brink, the father of Anderson Lee Aldrich, gave a homophobic filled interview on San Diego TV. Brink, 48, who worked as a porn star, mixed martial arts, fighter and coach. Said he wondered what his offspring was doing in a gay bar. Aldrich, 22, is accused of killing five people and injured 20 at Colorado Springs. Nightclub, the prior arrest of the 22-year-old suspected gunman, was allegedly opened fire in Colorado Springs, has put the spotlight on state law, which can be utilized to temporarily remove gun access from those deemed to danger, of danger to themselves and others. Colorado's controversial red flag law allows law enforcement family and members to petition a judge to temporarily cease a person's firearms. However, in Colorado Springs, where this took place, the police didn't want to do that and so they simply ignored the law. On Saturday, November 19th, Anderson Lee Aldrich allegedly entered that bar just hours after the shooting, his mother was arrested in Colorado Springs for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Why was she arrested? Disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. What were the circumstances? Do you have any more? Okay, we'll have to investigate that further. They probably went to talk to her and she probably went ballistic, I would guess, but I really don't know for sure. Noblesville, Indiana, bones found in the 1990s on Fox Hollow Farms in Westfield are linked to Herb by Bombmeister. I remember him, he was married, he had children and he was largely considered Indian this most prolific serial killer. In 1996, authorities found only 11 DNA profiles among the bones and identified eight of the men that he murdered. The coroner said the DNA technology has advanced and now they're going to try to identify more of the men who were buried on his land. The search produced more than probably 10,000 bones believed to there as many as 25 individuals that were recovered from the property. So from that initial find, there are 11 DNA samples identified. Eight of those people were actually matched to DNA samples. There are still three remaining samples left and they have not been matched to anybody. Brummeister was believed to have coerced young men in Indianapolis gay bars to return to his Westfield home before killing them. He took his own life before law enforcement could arrest him. I was gonna say one of the things with cases such as this is we all do voluntary DNA testing. It goes into a centralized database so there are now more samples to compare against. So they're trying to find them. And look at a potential match. And the refinement is I may not, you may not be in the database but your sister is. And I'm a close relative of your sister. So then they expand it out and they locate you. I know, very interesting. So don't do anything wrong. I don't think I've ever given a DNA sample, oh my. That you're aware of. Okay, and now we have a picture of the big queer marching band in the Thanksgiving Macy parade. I wish I'd been there for that. And then it's time to finally see Tim Drake, AKA Robin of Batman. Finally share a kiss with his boyfriend in the pages of DC Comic. There is a picture of this coming up. Tim has spent the year dating his boyfriend, Bernard Dowd, and coming out. Now the two are shown kissing on the cover of issue six of Tim Drake. So there you go. That will be fun. Congressional Republican Congresswoman Lauren Bobbitt is on defense after many pointed out the coalition between her attacks on LGBT community and this weekend's mass shooting at the queer Colorado nightclub, which happens to be near her district. Where five people died. Bobbitt, a gun fetishist, narrowly reelected in Congress this month has made a political career of villainizing minorities, including sex and gender minorities. She often conflates transgender people with drag artists and has attacked both groups of people. Bobbitt claims drag queen reading hours are akin to strip shows. Saying six year olds are being exposed to obscenity and calling the library events child abuse. She misgenders transgender people including health and human services officer, Dr. Rachel Levine. And says services for trans youth are grooming mainstream media outlets like Yahoo News Label. Her messaging about LGBTQ people as smears. Can we go back to the band in the Thanksgiving Day Parade? I have a friend who posted a picture of that on Facebook and he was blocked. And several conservative states blocked that coverage of the Thanksgiving Day Parade on there. Like maybe Florida and Texas. Yeah. So here's an uplifting story. Oh good. About filmmaker Cheryl Allison didn't let the isolation of COVID-19 pandemic keeper from making a new friend and forging relationship that changed both their lives. But have some Kleenex handy because in 2020 Allison and her wife Natalie Murray were on lockdown in Dallas unable to see any other friends or family. Allison began making walks around Turtle Creek Park in their neighborhood. There she met a feathered bean who's now the subject of her documentary called Honk. A goose, a girl and a fairytale ending. She and Honk formed a connection almost immediately she says. Honk is the name of the goose. That took me by complete surprise she says. I was very taken aback when she started following me acting like she knew me. She began going to the park daily to see Honk. And in talking to animals. She learned that he was a domestic goose. That meant he was unable to fly and that like many ducks and geese he had probably been dumped in the park by someone who once kept him as a pet. Baby ducks and geese are often given as gifts which is a bad idea the film points out. And when they mature and are too big to manage they end up abandoned in the wild in a suitable environment where they face predators and other hazards. She also learned that he was a social animal and probably had a mate somewhere in the park. It turned out however that his mate was dead and Honk was in mourning. How does she know that? Well, I don't know. Maybe the people in the park shared that information. Maybe. We should watch the documentary to learn the tale. The film follows Adelson and Honk from their days in the park through their decision to take him to a rescue center near Dallas. The Rogers Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. She was convinced it was a good fit for him. He made new friends and found new mate there and Adelson was able to visit him. And as the film demonstrates the connection was as strong as ever showing a goose came on with a person just like a dog and a cat can. And here's a picture of her and the goose. Oh, how cool. Yeah. Competition for the penguins. I know. We should adapt to goose. I don't know if that would go well. So, before I get into a little election follow-up I went up to the Berlin Mall and as I was walking through I noticed very large signs about hobby lobby coming soon. There was no one available to talk with and there was no literature that identified a future date or their anticipated opening date but there were already people walking around looking to see when it was going to be open. So we will be keeping track of that and reporting on it. As Ann pointed out to me when I did the report on the election during our last show I talked about Proposition 5 but I didn't mention Proposition 2 which was the constitutional amendment that would remove reference to slavery and indentured servitude. It passed by close to 79% of the vote and it had support in every community the same as Proposition 5 did. Good, thank you. There is a recount. Well, there are actually three recounts underway for our House of Representatives. There is one in which we are personally interested and it's the Grand Isle Chittenden District, Josie Leavitt. She got the second place finishing by ten votes. Wow. Which, actually it is very rare that someone would just ten votes for a recount to change the outcomes. So I'm fairly confident that Josie is going to be but unfortunately they're not counting or recounting the ballots up in Grand Isle until 8.30 Wednesday morning and we're taping on Tuesday night. So a follow-up, Becca, and it has been reported by the mainstream media that she received donations from the cyber executive who was responsible for the cyber bottoming out and she received $2,900. The cryptocurrency gun? The cryptocurrency, FTX. She and Peter Welch both did. Is he gay? Wow. All right. But what Becca said is when she learned that this is where the money is from she's donating it to charity. Oh, good. For a temporary shelter and Peter Welch is doing the same. So they recognized this is where the money came from. I'm not accepting this. I'm going to put it to a worthy cause. So this caught my eye. New equity initiative focuses on Vermont municipalities. Did you see this? No. Susanna Davis, the office on racial equity. They're starting a new statewide program called ideal inclusion, diversity, equity, action, and leadership. And this will encourage Vermont's municipalities to focus more proactively on equity. Policies, procedures, you know, when they are drafting, you know, any piece of, you know, changes to their chart, all of that. And they're going in, they're doing training with municipalities. And there are already 14 that have signed on. And I was reading the list, which includes Bennington, Brattleboro, Burlington, the people you would expect, Hardwick, Timoth, Montpeliers not on the list. Why is that? The answer is I don't know, which is why I was including it tonight. Maybe our city council needs to hear that this is a priority because Susanna Davis gets it about intersectionality and how what impacts one underrepresented community has the domino impact on others. So we will be included in the work that she's doing. I also saw, I noticed that got my attention about the Vermont Women's Fund. And they're starting a Vermont Women-Owned Challenge that we will go out and shop specifically from women-owned businesses. And they have a website thiswayupvermont.com which you can go on and say, this is what I'm looking for. It's called Vermont Women. This way up Vermont. This way up Vermont. And we'll have Zach put it up on the screen. So Anne doesn't have to be gruselier. But you can go on and you can say, this is what I'm looking for, it's in this area and it will give you a map of the women-owned businesses. And I thought, that's a wonderful thing. So mixed results with the election, 60% of the election deniers within the Republican Party seem to have been elected. Or the people going back to Congress, which I thought was really high. But they got some substantial money from corporations. And so I went through and looked at, so who gave them money? You know, they were the Koch industries who we would expect. But then there was American crystal sugar. They gave money to campaigns here in Vermont. AT&T, Home Depot, Honeywell, UPS, Lockheed, Boeing, we would expect them, Raytheon. And this is the one that Zach doesn't want to hear. Comcast. Yeah, there we go. National Association of Realtors, National Beer Wholesellers Association, National Automobile Dealers, American Bankers Association, Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers. So when we're going out and supporting businesses, we may want to spend a little time saying, wait a minute, what do you do with your money? And some of these are not the corporation itself, such as Home Depot. Home Depot has always been on every list. Okay, but they're a good example. It's not the company itself. They have an employees pack, and the employees decide who gets the money. Shop at Lowes. I've heard that some of these places contribute on both sides, though, just to have some bets. Well, exactly. And that's pretty sick, too. Well, that would lead me to back away from them as well. Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's a horrible practice. I'm going to hand it back to you, and you're taking me back to Qatar, aren't you? Comcast is the only game in town. It's really awful. Anyway, go ahead, Ian. Rainbow Struggle playing out on the sidelines of the World Cup. We'll go to Asia now. Aside from the competition for the title, one of the most hotly contested issues in the tournament is over rainbow colors. In the first week of the tournament, seven European teams lost the battle to wear a multi-colored one-love armband during the World Cup matches, and some fans complained that they weren't allowed to bring items with rainbow colors, a symbol of LGBTQ rights, into the stadiums of the conservative Islamic Emirate. And now let's take an in-close look at one of those one-love armbands. As we know, gay sex is illegal in Qatar, and it's been facing international scrutiny and criticism during the run-up, including Peter Tatch, which I mentioned. I've talked about it on the show. Of course, there were questions about whether LGBTQ visitors would feel safe and welcome. The Gulf Nation has said that all are welcome, including LGBTQ fans, and that it would ensure safety for everyone, regardless of background and that they visit it, as long as the visitors respected the nation's culture. So the results are mixed, and the games aren't over yet. One of the teams, Belgium, tweeted a team photo Friday showing the captain wearing a one-love armband. The country's foreign minister, or as you watch the Belgium's World Cup opener against Canada on Wednesday. So all these other people, dignitaries, are wearing the one-love armbands in defiance of their FIFA's refusal to let the captains do it of the seven countries, not including the United States, by the way, that wanted to wear it. Some fans have said they were asked to discard their rainbow hats at the World Cup Stadium earlier this week, despite these assurances that the tournament... these items would be allowed in the stadiums. A U.S. citizen living in Qatar said he was holding a small rainbow flag on the metro on his way to the U.S. Opener against Wales, when two people wearing shirts that identified them as volunteers asked him to put the flag away. He didn't want to. One of them became agitated and called him disgusting. He's a journalism professor at the Doha Institute of Graduate Studies at the stadium. A Qatari police officer searched his bag, found the rainbow flag, looked at it, put it back. I actually wasn't prohibited by bringing it into the stadium. And the other interesting thing is he wore a pride shirt in Qatar to the grocery store and didn't have any trouble. I don't recommend it myself. I don't know. Some whales said they were prevented from taking rainbow bucket hats to the game against the U.S., prompting the U.S. of the Wales Soccer Federation to raise the issue with FIFA. Qatari World Cup organizing committee did not provide answers to questions. The AP asked them for instructions on stadium security and volunteers. They didn't get them. CNN asked them for the codified instructions. They didn't get them. The One Love Arm Band, which we've just seen, features the outline of a heart striped in different colors. It was intended to be worn by the captains of England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and Wales to promote inclusion and display solidarity with people of different genders and sexual identities. So hours before the first game, they were informed that anyone wearing an arm band would get a yellow card, and two yellow cards, and you're out. You're out of the World Cup, so it's punitive. How nice. An activist from Liz Ward, director of programs at Stonewall, told CNN Sport, it's quite scary for LGBTQ-plus communities around the world to see our lives be so controversial. It's become this quite painful drawn-out debate that is questioning on the global scene and the idea of LGBTQ-plus lives. Josh Cavallo, the openly gay, only openly gay top-flight male soccer player of the world, said he felt excluded by all this. It hasn't really entirely deterred some players from trying to express their feelings about the One Love controversy in other ways, and this is pretty interesting. Political activity on the field, despite all of these injunctions, Germany's players briefly covered their mouths with their hands ahead of their game against Japan, signaling that FIFA had prevented them from using their voices to speak up about certain issues in the World Cup. Another really moving thing is involved the Iranian team that refused to sing the national anthem in support of the women, primarily protesters in Iran. American journalist Grant Wall and former Wales captain Laura McAllister both said they were told to remove their clothing with rainbow-colored patterns. Wall was arrested and released 25 minutes after being detained and received apologies. I mean, it's all so mixed up and punitive and creepy. Again, CNN asked to clarify the dress codes and FIFA said expats and tourists are free to wear the clothing of their choice as long as it's respectful. As for the One Love arm bad, a broader expression of campaign groups is that football has missed an opportunity to show solidarity with the LGBTQ community. Okay, and you're going to have to wrap up soon so you might want to move on. Well, let me show you a protester with a rainbow flag running onto the field at the World Cup wearing a blue Superman t-shirt that said, save Ukraine on one side in respect for Iranian women on the back during the World Cup match between Portugal and Uruguay. Okay. Is there time for one more story? If it's not a long one. Where do I order the t-shirt? I know. Well, that was the thing. As soon as it was banned, the rainbow arm band sold out. You know? So it's very... You have time for a short one. Well, let me show you a picture of Abe, Dange, and Supriyo Chagoroborty who've been a couple for almost 10 years and they are petitioners in India, same-sex marriage petition and a judge has chosen to accept it which is a good sign. Good. Thank you. So there they are. I love that picture of that guy running through. The founder of the anti-trans-hate group Gays Against Groomers appeared on Fox News Tuesday a night and put blame on the mass shootings at Club Q on gender-affirming healthcare. Jamie Mitchell spoke to Tucker Carlson and suggested that shooting like the one at Club Q in Colorado Springs would continue until the evil agenda of gender-affirming healthcare is put to an end. I'm telling you. Our opposition doesn't have to worry about us fighting among ourselves. I mean, people said that in the past when atrocities like this have occurred the opponents were silent, but now they're doubling down. Now they have a big mouth. A local gay man was arrested on Tuesday for the recent brick attacks on a popular Hell's Kitchen gay bar in New York City. Sean Cooley was arrested, was taken into custody and charged with criminal mischief, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon for three of the four incidents at the Veers' Gate nightclub which took place within the past two weeks. They showed a picture of him. He was caught on camera. Sean Cooley, they got him. You couldn't miss him. I mean, you knew it was only a matter of time. Now, Marjorie Taylor Greene is trying to speak directly to trans kids and talk to them, talk them out of transitioning. It's not going well. If you're under 18 and people are telling you to cut off your breast or have a surgery, excuse me, that turns your penis inside out to make a vagina, you're a victim of child abuse. Gender for being genital surgery is not performed on minors and top surgeries only performed on minors in rare circumstances. So, so much for her. Former NFL player, Herschel Walker, running in Georgia who is a candidate called his 23-year-old son, Christian Walker, the person how his mother caused him to be gay. Herschel Walker, Georgia, I heard Texas. And I'd like to give a quick shout-out to Nancy Pelosi who we all know. Oh, I cried on her speech. When she was first elected 47 years ago as a representative from San Francisco, she went to the march on Washington and that was in 1987. She has been a devoted ally to the LGBTQ community. So, let's give Nancy Pelosi a shout-out. Yes. And Avery Schneider claimed victory in the Tournament of Champions winning $250,000 grand prize. So, another shout-out for Amy and the Lesbian History Archives at 884 14th Street. Herstory. Herstory. Please. I know. Ah, was officially commemorated as an individual landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. And this will be the first landmark in Brooklyn designated for its association with LGBTQ plus community. So, and Ned Roram, the prolific Pulitzer and Grammy-winning musician known for his vast output of compositions and for his barbed and sometimes scandalous prose died Friday at 98. Carol Lee, a San Francisco activist who is credited with coining the term sex work and who sought for decades to improve conditions for prostitutes and others in the adult entertainment business has died. She was 71. And Michael Fungold, longtime chief theater critic of a Village Voice has passed away. He was 77. And for the last story and there might be a little commentary we'll have about this, but the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Senate has advanced the Respect of Marriage Act. It's not the final passage, but it's a key step forward. The Senate Wednesday afternoon voted 62 to 37 to move the legislation forward with 12 Republicans joining 50 Democrats and independents. The vote now allows the Senate to begin debate on the bill bringing it closer to the final vote. There may have to be a second vote to close debate, but that may not be necessary now that it's reached the 60 vote threshold once. A final vote to pass the bill require only a simple majority. The legislation would write marriage equality into federal law and protect it from Supreme Court action given that Justice Clarence Thomas has called for the overturning of Obergefell versus Hodges. In 2015, High Court ruling had struck down all state bans on marriage, same-sex marriage. It would also repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which was struck down in U.S., but remains on the books and would guarantee the right to interracial marriage as enshrined in the High Court's Loving versus Virginia ruling in 1967. So you said there was some more news on that, didn't you? Well, they were, as we were going to taping on Tuesday, they were thinking they were going to have a vote this afternoon and that they thought they had the votes. They felt it was going to pass. It would then have to go back to the House for the House to concur with the changes that the Senate had made. And it was interesting, your comment, that there were additional things because what I had heard about was putting in the exemption for religion that... Well, you should see what those are. I was going to say, we're going to need to look at it and we'll see what the final version is. I was going to say, here in Vermont, whenever we were enacting non-discrimination legislation, there was always a religious exemption that has been part of that legislation. That if, you know, such as hiring, if you were hiring a Catholic priest, you could use the doctrines of your community of faith versus the state statute to guide your hiring practices. But it's interesting that they're also looking at the states that never repealed their DOMA, the Defensive Marriage Act, that this would say whether you take it out or not. It overrides. The federal overrides. The states, right? Because I was reading in India that with this marriage case even though Section 377 was overturned, Indians are still being harassed even though it's no longer. As I learned in the early days of doing advocacy here in the mid-1980s, it was a frequent part of committee debate that legislators would look at us and say, you do understand that legislative change does not necessarily bring social change. Well, to which we came, which we recounted with, no, but saying this is what our expectation is, helps us to move that social and cultural change forward. We are setting a sort of floor of what is or is not acceptable. And that makes a huge difference. And that corresponds with Linda's story about Colorado Springs. The red flag law was on the books and the police wouldn't enforce it. I was going to say I had heard it was expanded further out than just law enforcement that no one within the county was enforcing it. Well, wouldn't it be up to law enforcement? But law enforcement was decided that they were going to take it seriously. Yeah, and so that's why this person, this young man, fully armed, still had possession of guns even when he was... Had been arrested the year before. There was some bomb threat. Yeah, he had a bomb threat for his mother. And the police were called. So it's very problematic all of it, isn't it? Well, it sounds like his cultural gravitas came from his family. Wasn't there also some reporting on his grandfather having been a legislator and a Republican? Bingo. Yes, in California, I believe. It's one of those... We talk about free speech, hate speech. Words matter. Words have an impact. And what you're putting out, you need to look at what is it supporting? What is it promoting? And is it true or not? I heard somewhere, and I don't know if it's true or not, it didn't include in the story, but that Aldrich is now... That's his name, right? Anyway, he is claiming to be non-binary. I saw that, too. When his attorneys filed, they stated that they were now using non-binary genification, non-binary pronouns, to which their state's attorneys came back and said, okay, that's nice, but that has no bearing on a bias or hate-motivated crime. It certainly doesn't. Okay, so there we are. So there we are. So, Keith, trivia. And again, Ann got this without missing a beat. Becca's going to Washington. Have we had LGBTQ plus people in the White House? It has always been believed that James Buchanan, lifelong bachelor, was actually in a long-term relationship with William Rufus King, who was Franklin Pierce's vice president, and they lived together from 1840 until 1853, the time of King's death. So people think that he was one of us. And also, wasn't there letters from Lincoln? Oh, Lincoln? Well, how we slept with some of the soldiers? Well, that's a whole different conversation because that's... Well, no, no, no, that's bedfellows. And at the time, due to poverty and housing, you rented half a bed. So there's some debate about exactly what it meant. But I'll take Abraham Lincoln if you're offering him. Yeah. Okay, on that note, remember to resist.