 I'm Keith Gosland and this is All Things LGBTQ. We are taping on Thursday the 17th of December and we want to acknowledge that All Things LGBTQ is produced at Orca Media in Montpelier which we recognize as being unceded Indigenous land. So now it's a lint of for headlines and maybe to introduce that new person. Hi, yes, I'd like to introduce Kim Ward who has graciously stood in for Ann who unfortunately had a heart attack a few weeks ago and is recuperating. So Kim will be with us for a few weeks. Welcome, Kim. Thank you. We're glad you're here. Me too. Okay, so I should go to headlines, eh? Okay, I'd like to start with talking about a little bit about Pete Buttigieg and if he's confirmed he will be Transportation Secretary and this is an LGBTQ milestone. He will be the first open LGBTQ person in a cabinet position. Now I know what was her name. She was a closeted lesbian and was on the, I think it's Clinton's cabinet. God, what was her name? She was not closeted. She was from San Francisco. It was Roberta Ackdenberg. No, I'm thinking of another one. Oh, I have no idea who you're thinking of then. All right, well maybe it'll come to me. Um, but anyway, she was on the cabinet, I think during the Clinton time and she's definitely a lesbian academic and I can remember everything about her. I can even see her, but I damned if I can remember her name. No, no. And then so anyway, so he'll be the first openly LGBTQ person in the cabinet. Okay, so the next question, Trump is trying to rescind LGBTQ worker protections on the national level. Conservator Skotis announces another pro LGBTQ decision. The LGBTQ best movies for 2020 according to the advocate. I mean, I will have a few of those. I picked them mostly because they were ones that I liked. But if you want to look at the others, you can go to the advocate or look online. LBGTQ fans pay tribute to Broadway legend Anne Reimkang, the Tony Wood winning actors, dancer and choreographer. And she was an LGBTQ icon. She was 71. And arrest has been made in the death of Virginia trans woman Shay Misha Sims. Tulsi Gabbard sponsors an anti LGBTQ bill on its way to Congress through Congress. So I guess our suspicions about her were indeed true. Many people said that about her. Some people didn't believe it or she I think at some point said, oh, no, no, I used to be that way because of my family background. But now I'm a changed person. Well, doesn't seem so Tulsi. Sorry. A transgender volunteer was killed in a mass stabbing in San Jose. And Lambda legal and immigration equality plan to sue the Trump administration. Well, I'm more about that. And a hate group, a sales risk crackers ad for promoting promoting the transgender lifestyle. The American Family Association has gone crackers over an LGBTQ inclusive commercial. So and I haven't seen actually seen the commercial yet. I don't know if anybody has, but anyway. And Karen Pence's anti LGBTQ school gets $725,000 in COVID relief. Has does many ministries. And I think we should all go after all that money and get it back and give it to people who really need it. We don't need to pay for Joe Olsen's mansion. First gay wrestling star Pat Patterson dies at 79. And gay man Carlos Ezzidona named White House Social Security Secretary. So I don't know, you know, I have trouble pronouncing names. I hope if if you're listening Carlos or anybody else, you'll forgive me for mutilating your last name. So now we'll move on to Kim. Thanks. And look, I called you and thank you, Linda. So I have a few things. I have also a few entertainment items, including some movies to talk about. People who are coming out. Some more troubling news about J.K. Rowling being afraid of trans people still. Also a French movie that is in the spotlight for some a lesbian couple. So it's a great story. Some law and order, as I say, it's law and order information. Supreme Court is rejecting a challenge for transgender accommodations in the high school. There's a New Zealand law maker who is speaking out about being gay in Bhutan. The parliament has decriminalized homosexuality. In Hungary, there's a very interesting story about a dadi orgy, which Anne gave me some great information on. So we'll talk more about that. Lambda Legal is condemning the 400 page nine agency monstrosity of a federal rule change. In health, the Trevor Project's national survey is speaking to the people who are on the ace spectrum, which is the asexuality spectrum. And I've got some sports information, including Argentina's first trans pro soccer player, including also some football news. So that's what I've got for today. Thank you. And one of the reasons you're having problems with all of those last names because you don't have Anne sitting next to you, giving you the correct pronunciation. So, Monday morning, 10 a.m. Vermont was the first state to vote in the electrical electrical, electoral college. And Terry Anderson may have been the person who cast the first vote. Why does that name sound familiar to us? I'm going to do a quick follow up. California Supreme Court, and I had said on our last show that I was going to give some more detail about that court appointment. And then when I watched the tape, I realized I kind of forgot to do it. So, California has a unique process. The governor makes a nomination. And then there is an independent judicial review board that looks over the person's qualifications and experience and makes a recommendation if they qualify for that Supreme Court appointment. And then it goes out for a statewide vote. And that just happened. And the person who was elected was Martin Jenkins. Why we care about this is he is the first openly gay member of the California Supreme Court. He is also a person of color. What is also interesting about California Supreme Court process is that your initial appointment is only for 12 years. And then it's reviewed. Imagine if we had those same protocols for our U.S. Supreme Court. And later on, I got some comments about our U.S. Supreme Court as well. Right now, I want to encourage you to look at the website, Facebook postings for both the Pride Center of Vermont and Out in the Open in particular. These are two of our larger LGBTQ plus organizations. They both have made a commitment to doing more virtual meetings during the era of COVID to try and respond to our increased senses of social isolation. I mean, we live in a rural area. We contend with it all the time. COVID has just, you know, heightened that sense of I'm sitting here by myself. Also, one of the reasons you might want to check the Pride Center site is there may be an employment opportunity here. The Pride Center is looking for a new director of their Safe Space Anti-Violence Program. Skyler, who is the previous director, has moved on in their life and their career. And who is the associate director has been functioning as interim. They're looking for a full-time person. And you have until Friday, January 15th, to get in a covered letter and a resume. And this position reports directly to the executive director. Also, a shout out for organizing an activity happening here in Vermont. The member organizations of the LGBTQIA Alliance of Vermont have made a commitment to repeat the what were the geographic town hall forums that were conducted last year. However, in the era of COVID, we can't meet in person. So these are all going to be virtual events this year. And because there are virtual events, people decided that, you know, rather than really focusing some on community organizing by doing them geographically, let's change the format event. And let's do them on an issue-based forum. So starting on January 21st, and all of the forums are from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., and there will be a link that will be sent out in, you know, future mailings from the Price Center out in the open, and we will certainly post them. But on January 21st, there will be a conversation about health justice. And on January 26th, let's talk about housing. On February 4th, rural queerness. Who would have thought? And February 9th, it is a youth. And this is, the intent of this is to be a sponsored event for youth to talk among themselves about their issues, their needs. On February 18th, to balance the youth, we're going to talk about aging gracefully. On February 23rd, there will be a forum on racial justice. And then on March 2nd, which is town meeting day, there will be a statewide caucus where people from all of those previous forums will report back on their conversations, what people saw as being needs, what people thought would be the necessary resolution, and then trying to come up with an action plan. What is it that we do next? Or what is the direction you would like LGBTQ plus advocacy to take here in the state of Vermont? I want to talk in greater detail in the next segment about a meeting that happened on Thursday, December 10th. And this was the second New England-wide equity caucus that was hosted by GLAAD, which is the Gay, Lesbian Advocacy Defenders in Boston. And they have sponsored a similar forum a year ago. And it was an attempt to bring together all of the LGBTQ plus organizations throughout New England to talk about what is the work that you've been doing? What are the victories that you have achieved within the past legislative session within the past year? And then let's talk about how we can either collaborate, be supportive of each other, or be a resource for people who are just starting to do work that we have already achieved. And this is a story that is hot this morning. And it's about a hearing in Superior Court, the environmental division that happened yesterday, Wednesday morning. Now, on a previous show, we reported on the Slate Ridge Tactical Gunfighting Facility and West Paulette. And there was a conversation about firing range, militia training. Vermont Digger was the first media outlet to focus on this. And it was because of complaints by the neighbors about one, about the noise, the disruptions, and the threats against them from the people who were participating in this facility. And what happened is the town of Paulette has brought a suit against the owner because they're operating a gun range and training center in a residential area. And they don't have the permits to do this. So what they bear and the account that again was in Digger this morning is the person who owns and runs this facility was openly sarcastic, dismissive of the judicial process. So what the town is looking for is an immediate injunctive action to stop all of their activity until the court makes a decision. And the court has said they have until January 15 to file all of their documents, all of their motions, then they have until February 1st to respond to what the other side had filed. And then they're looking at coming up with the final action. Now, one of the things that was supposed to be happening, but hadn't, is that, you know, the facility was being fined for not having the appropriate permits. And they should have been paying $100 a day until it had been resolved. So they already owe over $45,000 in fines and penalties. And the town has said they have already incurred over $11,000 responding to this issue. And this was a unique step because the neighbors had approached state government saying, what can you do? And what state government said is, you know, they haven't done anything that allows us to step in and take action. However, we knew that, you know, alcohol, tobacco firearms, all of those people were monitoring what was going on. So with that, Linda, I think it's back to you. Sorry, I was reading, that's really interesting. I was reading about that group of militia people or, you know, for a while. And for a long time, there wasn't anything that could seem to, could have been done, but I'm glad they're doing something. So that's good to know. New York young Republicans hold a secret massless gala in New Jersey. Apparently, they couldn't find a place to do it in New York because of the restrictions. And they found this restaurant that they could do it in New Jersey. And so they had it there. And I think the restaurant has been closed for now. Although it insists that it did not do anything wrong that it could have as many people as it had. However, the pictures that were taken, we're all taken of people not wearing masks and dancing and too many people. So we'll see what happens with that. NASDAQ has just put its money where its mouth is. It's going to require its listed companies to have diverse ports or be kicked off the exchange. The program recognizes the emerging reality in American industry. So I think that is pretty good. Although, you know, they were asking questions like if I have one black lesbian or if I have, you know, do I meet the court? But, you know, anyway, I guess it's a step forward even to recognize that it has to be done. And this is a funny story. It's about the proud, proud boys. I was going to put a picture up of this, but I just couldn't. But anyway, they were killed made by a gay man. And they flashed protesters during a mega rally written on their bare bottoms, which they flashed at demonstrators, said, fuck Intifa. So I know. And then the writer who attacked Joe Biden for calling herself doctor in the Wall Street Journal also called gay people the N word. And apparently I was reading this morning that Tucker Carlson has taken a real slap at Joe Biden calling. He got a copy of her dissertation apparently, and he is calling her an idiot, a two year old could have written this spelling is wrong. You know, it was just it was just really ugly and horrible. And I hope she's prepared for four years of this. Missouri lesbian couples settle their discrimination case in the retirement complex called friendship village, who refused to let them move in because they were lesbians. And apparently they lost their suit because they violated the federal fair housing act. I'm surprised we still have a fair housing act, do we? Anyway, so and conservative scotis announces another pro LGBTQ physician, the US Supreme Court won't hear a case from Indiana that could have undermined marriage equality. As it's sought to overturn a lower courts ruling that both same sex parents have to be listed on a child's birth certificate. The court included let me see the court included the case of box versus Henderson on a list that the Supreme Court denied and did so without comment. The justices were unanimous despite the appointment of three by Trump. So the ruling for the parents will stand. That's good news. And here are some movies that were listed. Unpregnant on HBO, which I have not seen. Uncle Frank also an HBO and it's gotten a lot of reviews. I haven't seen that either. I don't have HBO. I wish I did. The old guard on Netflix, which I really enjoyed. If you like that sort of swashbuckling futuristic movie. The boys in the band I didn't see. And let me see. Oh, and my rainy black bottom is coming out very soon. I think on the 18th, actually, and that should be fun. Anna and I started on Broadway in London. And let's see. So that's the ones I have on here. I know Kim is going to talk about others. And a trans volunteer was killed in a mass stabbing in San Jose, Holy Shelter. Her name was Kimberly Susan Fial. She was 55. Fernando Paz 32 has been charged with her murder. He had also been a volunteer at the homeless shelter. And he was helping set up beds for people to sleep in with Kimberly and something nobody knows what set him off. And he just randomly started stabbing people. She died. And I believe three others were wounded. He's being held without bond. And a gay man, Carlos Elizondo, has been named White House Secretary and two lesbians of color for communication staff. Kareen Jean Pierre and Pele Tova. Then there's a lesbian, Iranian American, Sefi Shine 43, who'll be the first out LGBTQ Iranian American elected to any public office anywhere. And she hails from West Hollywood. So that's my news, Kim, on to you. All right. So I am going to tag on to your story about movies and say that if you are as excited about Tony award-winning musicals as I am, you will be happy to hear that they filmed a version of the musical prom and it is now available on Netflix. It is phenomenal. I think they did a great job. This is the story of a girl who just wants to go to prom and dance with her girlfriend. And then the PTA cancels the whole prom. Some very famous musicians and actors come from Broadway to help her make her dream come true. And they sort of make a mess of things at first. But it's a really lovely musical. So if you get a chance, do see it. In Los Angeles, the Oscar-nominated star of Juno and the Umbrella Academy, formerly known as Ellen Page, on Tuesday said that he was a transgender person that had changed his first name to Elliott. He says, I can't begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self. This was on Instagram where Page wrote. He also wrote, I love that I am trans and I love that I am queer. Page, who is 33, was nominated for an Academy Award for playing a pregnant teenager in 2007 in the film Juno and starred in other movies, including the 2010 sci-fi thriller Inception. The actor currently appears in Netflix superhero series Umbrella Academy. In the Instagram post, Page said that he is going to be using the he and they pronouns. The truth is, despite feeling profoundly happy right now and knowing how much privilege I carry, I am also scared, Page said. I'm scared of the invasiveness, the hate, the jokes, and the violence. To all trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence every day, I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better, he added. So kudos to Elliott. On a not so great note, J.K. Rowling is going to have another article come out in Good Housekeeping this time, and in this article she claims in this interview that 90% of the letters she has received responded to her views on transgender people have been supportive, but that they are afraid of vicious pro-equality advocates. Many are afraid to speak up because they fear of their jobs and even their personal safety, said Rowling. But she did not explain exactly what all of these letters are, people in these letters are afraid of. Rowling published this 3700 word essay on her website earlier this year, saying she was afraid of trans women because of that cis men had hurt her, which I'm not clear how that has a problem for her, but she was still able to make millions per month on her books and even released a new book this year. Unfortunately, the new book is about a cis man who dresses up as a woman so that he can get close enough to women to kill them. Rowling has been an outspoken opponent of puberty blockers for transgender teenagers, hormones given in some transgender kids due to delay the onset of puberty so that they and their families can have more time to understand their identity before their bodies undergo permanent changes. It is almost unheard of for a transgender minor to undergo irreversible changes and it's important for people to know that puberty blockers prevent irreversible changes that come with puberty that can result in lifelong dysphoria for transgender people. Transgender people who had access to puberty blockers are one-third as likely to report suicidal thoughts as those who wanted them but didn't get them. Of course Rowling did not say whether their stories need to be told as well, so it's not a great story, but it's important to keep track of. On a better note, there are older queer women in the spotlight and a rare look at older queer women in love. The movie Two of Us, France's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards tells the story of a decades-long abiding romance between women that can't be thwarted by society or their families. The film stars acclaimed actress Martine Chevalier who was in Farewell, My Queen, Tell No One, and Jefferson in Paris as Madeline whose family thinks she's merely close friends with her neighbor Nina. Barbara Sukawa who played Hannah Arendt and was in Butterfly in Europa stars as Nina in the film which is directed by Filippo Menegetti and the screenwriter is Malisoni Bovarosmi, so I'm challenging myself with names here as well. But the plot for the film was inspired by a story that Menegetti heard from a friend about two older women who kept their doors to their apartments open to one another. The two women were widows in their 70s who warded off loneliness by constantly keeping their doors open and making the landing between them part of an enlarged apartment that covered the whole top floor Menegetti says in press notes for the film. The film arrives in the U.S. in February so I'm excited to see it. On another note there's been some by-pride shown on Jeopardy. On Jeopardy recently it was much like any other episode with one notable exception. Contestant Cody Lawrence wore a bisexual pride flag pin on the lapel of his jacket in hopes of bringing more visibility to the underrepresented group. And the flag if you're losing track of colors is the one that's behind me. Cody also said hi Al. I'm Cody. He and him are my pronouns. Tonight I'm on Jeopardy alongside the late great Alex Trebek. I took the opportunity to wear my hashtag by pride pin. We need more by-visibility in the media and he asked people to tune in and when he introduced himself he told people where they can go for support and resources which is awesome. In news in the courts the Supreme Court has recently rejected a challenge to transgender accommodations. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday December 7th preserved an Oregon public school district's policy of accommodating transgender students rejecting an appeal challenging the policy that lets students use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their correct gender identity. The justice is left in place a lower court ruling that threw out a lawsuit against Dallas school district number two in rural western Oregon spearheaded by parents of a group of students. The plaintiffs had argued that the policy violated the students' rights to privacy and religious freedom under the U.S. Constitution as well as a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination and education. The use of gender specific facilities such as bathrooms by transgender people in schools and beyond continues to be litigated around the United States. The Supreme Court scrapped plans to hear a major case from Virginia involving bathroom access in public schools in 2017. The justices in a landmark decision in June ruled that federal law prohibits workplace discrimination against gay and transgender employees. But that ruling written by conservative justice Neil Gorsuch made clear it was not addressing bathrooms locker rooms or anything else of the kind. So the accommodation stands the person who used it most recently used the proper bathrooms until they graduated with no incidents there's not really a reason to be challenging these things. In international news in New Zealand there was a lawmaker who came out speaking out about being gay. This was in an article by Matt Baum on them.us which is one of my favorite newsletters and websites. The newly elected lawmaker Ricardo Menendez March addressed his colleagues for the first time by quoting a favorite phrase of his be gay do crime. He said in our queer community there is a saying that I love. He said in his maiden address to the New Zealand House of Representatives it goes be gay do crime. He went on to explain that to him the atherism means to be transgressive, to acknowledge that decision makers have created rules that criminalize our survival and our existence. March noted that in that message which went viral in 2016 after being discovered among graffiti in Marseille, France that the saying has a double resonance for him as an immigrant who grew up in Tijuana, Mexico until the age of 18. He migrated to New Zealand in 2006 to study before being forced to drop out because of lack of finances. The MP said that the reality is that migrant workers are sometimes forced to break the law whether it means lying about their relationships, their relationship statuses, or overstaying their visas in order to have enough income to feed their children. The rules were simply not made for us said March who was a member of the Green Party. They were made to uphold a system where the wealthy few keep getting richer and at the expense of our planet and this house is enabling it he said to the House of New Zealand. Another article I have is in Bhutan. Bhutan has decriminalized homosexuality which is to the delight of local accident accidents, activists. In Kathmandu a joint sitting of both houses of Bhutan's parliament approved a bill on Thursday to legalize gay sex making the tiny Himalayan kingdom the latest Asian nation to take steps towards easing restrictions on same sex relationships. Sections 213 and 214 of their penal code I criminalize unnatural sex widely interpreted as homosexuality. Lawmakers said on both sides that there was just no reason to continue this and they voted in favor of amending the code to scrap the provision. In Hungary here's our interesting stories of the day. Guess at the Brussels daddy orgy found that there was an anti-LGBT politician hiding amongst them. He was caught breaking lockdown rules and the guests thought that the police who came to break up the party were part of that party and apparently tried to take their pants off and get them into the orgy but that's not what they were there for. So this person that was included in that group was the married MEP Joseph Zaser from Hungary's conservative ruling party. He tried to escape through a window. David Manzelli said that some of the 30 male guests tried to unzip the pants of these policemen. After the event the MEP has stood down from his job. He's resigned from his conservative party. So I guess that goes with don't do as I say but do is you know say what I do and be honest because you're going to get caught. The Lambda legal defense has also come out against the Trump Pence administration. They released another rule that changed further expanding the ability of federal contractors to inject religion and religious practice into the public sphere. The new rule governs grants provided by nine federal agencies and it instructs states and federal contractors that grants and subgrants must be dispersed to churches and religious organizations as well as secular groups. Jennifer C. Pizer director of law and policy at Lambda legal issued the following statement from day one nonstop through to its final moments the Trump Pence administration has been taking a sledgehammer to the wall of separation between church and state. This nearly 400 page monstrosity of federal rule change sweeps away safeguards designed to alert members of the public that none of us is required to get our publicly funded often critical services in religious settings or without religion mixed in. This is a very concerning story. So you know it's certainly my hope that we can fight against some of these things. In health the Trevor Project national survey speaks to the ACE spectrum. Derek Clifton on them.com reports that according to the results of the 2020 Trevor Projects national survey on LGBTQ plus youth mental health about one in 10 respondents said they identify on the ACE spectrum and ACE is the short short term for asexual. When given additional options to describe their sexual orientation 15% of asexual LGBTQ plus youth said that they were demisexual 9% were polyamorous and 9% noted being gray sexual which means you're in that gray area. Overall a larger proportion of asexual youth were transgender or non-binary compared to overall the overall sample of LGBTQ plus youth. Under the common definition of asexuality people on the ACE spectrum either don't experience sexual attraction or have a minimal desire for sexual contact. An asexual individual can still be drawn to someone date and participate in other romantic endeavors that aren't necessarily about sexual intercourse. There's no uniform monolithic experience of asexuality however. It's something that is not reported on enough and if you try to find news on ACE community from 2020 it's almost non-existent on the internet and so although the ACE community is beginning to be more highlighted in the forefront I'm hoping for more news in the near future. In education there was a Texas teen who was given suspension for wearing he was suspended for wearing fingernail polish and he had already been talking with the the board at the school and tried to work through all the proper steps to be allowed to do this and he was denied once again and so if you have a chance to find this young man online this gay teen stood up to the Clyde high school committee his name is Trevor Wilkinson and he talked about the situation he said it is about a discriminatory sexist policy not about me this policy needs to be changed. He went to school after Thanksgiving with this nail polish on and he said why is it against a dress code for a man to be comfortable with his masculinity and defy the gender norm society as opposed on us? He asked why is it harmful for me to wear nail polish if it's not harmful for girls to wear it and why is it harmful for males? He then explained why the policy is so harmful to LGBTQ plus students and I'm getting the sign so on the last note in sports James let's see after nearly a year of delays Mara Gomez has become the first trans woman to play professional soccer in Argentina at the end of the game the opposite team gifted her with a jersey with her name on it also Sarah Fuller was the first woman to play college football in a top tier division five game recently she was asked at the last minute because all of the kickers were out quarantining or with COVID so she was the first person to play in this tier five game moving us forward in sports and that's all. Thank you Kim so before I start talking about that New England equity caucus I want to say a little bit about the U.S. Supreme Court they also did two other rulings we had cases coming out of Colorado in New Jersey and both suits were challenging their governors placing restrictions on houses of worship and how many people could attend a service and the basis of their challenge was that the governors had imposed a harsher restriction on houses of worship than they did on businesses and it had to do with percentage or numbers who could be occupying a space the difference between the two is that if you're at a house of worship you're probably there for some kind of ritual which traditionally lasts an hour plus so that you have gone past that 15 minute close contact increasing the risk of exposure whereas a business you're going in you're making your purchase and you're leaving however as Linda has alluded to with the current composition of the U.S. Supreme Court they came down on the side of religious liberty and religious freedoms and what it means for us is in Vermont there has always been a tradition that such as employment that there was a religious exemption such as we could not require the Catholic Church to ordain someone that wasn't in keeping with the tennis of their fate so we need to be aware of those distinctions when we are promulgating rules and we're looking at legislation that it is an equal playing field and we are not separating out you know a religious institution because that's when I think we're going to find that we're vulnerable the other thing is looking at the U.S. Supreme Court decisions when we hear that they have not taken up a case or have declined to take up a case we need to look more carefully at what that means because if they decline to take up a case what it puts into place is whatever is the lower court ruling that is being appealed is now the standard and in the case such as Indiana with the lesbian couple in the birth certificate it was in our favor and what they were looking at is now this is part of the marriage priority you have marriage equality you got to play by the rules but they also may choose not to take up a case and it is a hostile decision against the LGBTQ cause communities so looking at that gathering that happened brought together by glad one of the things that all of the activists participating shared is that actually made it easier for us doing it as a virtual meeting such as last year when I went to Boston for the equity con conference I had to take two days out of my schedule to be able to attend a day to travel attend the conference and then the rest of that night traveling home a virtual meeting we could just log on wherever we were at whatever part of our day to participate and the people who participated were from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont and it was a spectrum of organizations there were organizations that were LGBTQ plus service providing nonprofits there were advocacy and political groups they were elected officials there were the LGBTQ plus task forces and subcommittees from Planned Parenthood and from the ACLU and housing advocacy groups when people were talking about accomplishments there was an incredible list that got created and you could see at that point in time how independently we had all been pretty much working on the same issues and what glad pointed out is that this new England cluster of states we have the most expansive and inclusive LGBTQ plus positive legislation statutes and policy rulemaking the things that people had achieved within the last year you know a ban on conversion therapy a ban on gay and trans panic defense ensuring that prep in relationship to ensuring that you did not become HIV positive is accessible for our minors a ban on female genital mutilation parentage ensuring that the the parented policies statutes acknowledge families as we form them non-binary options on driver's license and birth certificates the ability to change gender or your name on a driver's license and birth certificates transgender youth and sports participation racial justice and police reforms gender inclusive bathrooms so following that there were breakout rooms so i'm going to talk about you what those areas of interest were and how it might pertain to Vermont and the first breakout room was about COVID and what is the impact on the LGBTQ plus communities and the first thing that came up was yes there's there's racial disparities in how this pandemic is impacting our communities and actually Vermont's department of health just released statistics last week where the data they've collected indicates that white Vermonters and this is how they identify risk 74 people out of 10,000 are at risk of infection black Vermonters 281 out of 10,000 are at risk for infection or have already been impacted by this pandemic asian for monitors 185 per 10,000 and looking at hispanic or latinx it is it is not a racial category it is an ethnic but if you identified as being latinx hispanic 96 per 10,000 and here was the statistic that actually made me angry and it had to do with our indigenous population and our department of health because of how the federal reporting is structured our indigenous people are not a category by themselves they are lumped into an other category which means we cannot come up with any comparables statistical data but anecdotally listening to representatives from Vermont's commission on Native American affairs they are being hit hard and disproportionately impacted by this and certainly if you look at indigenous communities on a national basis they're being devastated one of the things that became readily apparent and the Fenway Community Health Center in Boston which is the preeminent LGBTQ plus health clinic in New England is that again because of how the feds collect data we're not there nobody is collecting LGBTQ plus data as it relates to the COVID pandemic now all of the other communities we know that part of the reason they're at greater risk is because of institutionalized racial injustice the lack of access to adequate health care living in poverty you know being home insecure or housing insecure those are all of the things that are true for our community and we also have that social isolation you know looking at the surveys that have been done of LGBTQ plus elders in particular how many of us are out to our health care providers so they know what to look for or how to give adequate response the other breakout was on movement infrastructure how do we get all of these you know diverging groups to be able to work together with equal voice equal platform and actually people were very interested in the current assessment that the LGBTQIA Alliance of Vermont is doing looking at Vermont's organizational structure trying to create an umbrella organization to reach all of the LGBTQ plus nonprofits and our social networks have equal standing in equal access and equal voice so and so know that that is also one of the things that the Alliance is looking for coming out of those town hall forums that are happening racial and economic justice you know in Vermont we have seen it with changing in our policing policies use of force etc one of the things that we all recognize that we need to do better at is ensuring that you know our communities of color indigenous populations Latinx are invited to the table that we have truly made room for them and that we are not speaking for them we are supporting their voices and again looking at prep you know is it available is it affordable you know who is funding what and there's an indication that the drug companies are increasing the cost of prep where at the same time the insurance companies are decreasing the level of coverage trans ID healthcare and restrooms and in Vermont one of the things that we are really looking at because we have the gender neutral bathroom bill we had worked with the Department of Children and Family looking at health access eligibility and expanding Vermont's Medicaid services to include greater transition related procedures and surgeries what fell under this category also was the Trans and Gay Panic Defense and actually here in Vermont people are approaching it from a slightly different perspective people are concerned about it people want to debate it but Representative LaLonde from Shelbert had introduced a bill during the last session and there's an indication he will be introducing it again to actually remove the justifiable homicide section of Vermont statutes if indeed that occurs that would remove again Trans Panic Defense because you can no longer say oh I didn't know the person was trans I didn't know they were gay I thought they were coming after me I was defending myself that defense option just wouldn't be there and the surprise category was housing now Linda will tell you that there's been a conversation in Rainbow umbrella about supportive LGBTQ plus housing and the total lack of it there are two initiatives underway one in Maine and one in Rhode Island to actually create LGBTQ plus housing now what I didn't hear was if this is going to be affordable housing you know which is one of the considerations for us is not only that it's there you know but but the rent is within a range that that I can participate the other conversation that evolved and it was what I had offered I recently attended the Montpelier Village Project virtual meeting and this is an initiative that's been going on in the Montpelier community for two years and in its simplest definition it's creating a social safety net to try and keep seniors in their homes you know that if if Kim, Linda, and I are all part of that of our village there would be a phone call that went out every morning saying hi Linda can you still answer the phone you know and Kim how you doing anything you need Kim may say oh if somebody's going grocery shopping or I might say you know I'm going to be raking leaves this afternoon can somebody help me you know or you know I need transportation or you know minor maintenance with my home now part of the Montpelier village community was what constitutes a home you know is it I have to own the building I have to own the condo would my apartment qualify what if I am housing insecure or I'm living in a tent also part of the conversation and it's one that we need to have within the lgbtq plus community is do we want to be part of a larger initiative or do we want our own initiative you know it's like looking at the housing that's available within the Montpelier senior center do we want to ensure that the staff are trained on lgbtq plus issues or do we want a building that's all our own and and that's going to be an ongoing conversation now one of the incursion things that came out of this newly blown wide caucus is that the people who were in those breakout rooms they're looking at continuing that work on an ongoing basis and indeed one of the objectives of this is you know there was also a list that was created of you know these are the states that have already passed these pieces of legislation such as the gay transpanic defense I could look at what states did it have already accomplished it reach out to them for their language how they did their advocacy you know how they what they provided for information to testifying committees to support the need for the legislation and what they encountered for opposition so with that Linda we didn't get our trivia we didn't get our trivia just say one thing before you do trivia trivia really quickly Donna Shalala was the woman who okay was on uh who was closeted and was on um presidential cabinet so anyway okay so that first elector terry anderson terry spelled t e r j e he openly gay former chair of the vermont democratic party one of the founders of and first executive director of vermont cares and he and beth dingham were the first two liaisons from vermont's lgbtq plus communities to the office of the governor so now linda thank you ki thank you kim and remember until we meet again to resist