 Linda Quinlan. I'm Ann Charles. I'm Keith Ghostland and welcome to All Things LGBTQ. We are taping on Tuesday, March 5th. It's Town Meeting Day. We hope you got out and voted. All Things LGBTQ is taped at Orchimedia in Montpelier, Vermont, which we recognize as being unceded indigenous land. And do you have fun things for us? I do. Some are good and some are not so good. Just the good stuff. Okay. So the first one is from Philadelphia. And there was a arrest of two Philadelphia LGBTQ leaders by state trooper during a fraught highway stop in a very concerning and it was very concerning. The city mayor said after the video showing some of what happened circulated on social media. Salina Morrison leads the city's office of LGBTQ affairs in his top aide to the mayor, Shirelle Parker. Morrison's husband, Darius McLean, runs a community center both or black while the Pennsylvania State Trooper appears to be white. I don't know why he's doing this. McLean cries to his wife Saturday morning as she records him being handcuffed lying on the side of the shoulder of an elevated highway during a rainstorm. Cars passed by a few feet away, both Morrison 51 and McLean 35 were detained on obstruction and resisting arrest charges after the 9 a.m. traffic stop. However, District Attorney Larry Krashner did not immediately file the charges while he investigates. So I don't know why. Sounds fishy. Yeah. I was going to say at no point in your story does it say what they were stopped for. Yeah. Because obstruction and resisting are after the fact. Right. And it wasn't listed about why they were stopped. It was probably the usual, your headlights out, you know. So I don't know. But I guess we'll find out more information about that as they investigate. But I imagine the State Trooper over. Yeah. Sounds like maybe. And for us and the Palm Springs Art Museum announced a new initiative which will launch next weekend. The Center on LBGTQ artists and supports the creative endeavors. The Q plus Art initiative will be underway March 16th with a day of talks, performances and celebration for the opening of the exhibit to move towards the limits of living, which features work by LGBTQ artists from the museum's permanent collection. According to museum officials, attendees can also expect a lecture on LGBTQ plus art history by curator, Samitina Gregory as a presentation of the inaugural distinguished keynote award to interdisciplinary Kree artist Kent Mockman. So that sounds like fun, doesn't it? I wish we were there for that. I know. I do too. I thought you were going to say it was an initiative to bring more lesbians from cold climates to come visit. Wouldn't that be nice? Yeah. Just ahead of North Carolina's primary elections on Tuesday, Donald Trump once again, through his way between behind Mark Robinson. Have you heard this guy? Oh my God. Repeating his past bizarre claims that the Republicans are better than Martin Luther King and Martin Luther King on steroids. At the campaign event in the state Saturday, Republicans has described straight couples as superior to gay couples, as well as educated LGBTQ plus people to maggots and flies and refer to homosexuality and transgenderism as filth. And you know, he's looking for governor. He's running for governor. He's lieutenant governor now and I don't know, we'll see what happens with that, but that's a scary thought, isn't it? A new bill proposed in the Missouri House of Representatives, one of the most extreme pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation against educators yet. Bill 2885, introduced by Republican Representative Jamie Craig, Greg, would charge teachers who support a transgender student social transition with a class E felony, threatening them with a fine of $10,000 and up to five years in prison, and forcing them to register as sex offenders. Absolutely. I guess we're not going to go to Missouri anytime soon. We're not allowed to leave Vermont. No. Well, can we go to Massachusetts? Barely. But we have to go past New Hampshire. Okay, anyway. I love New Hampshire. Don't get me wrong. The NYPD is asking for the public's help in locating a group of teenage boys. They say attack two gay men in a homophobic hate crime in Queens last month. The two men were walking on Broadway when we had 33rd Street around 730. A four teenager started yelling anti-LGBTQ slurs and throwing hot objects at the couple. The New York Daily News reported police say one of the victims fell to the ground. He was repeatedly punched in the face before the group fled the scene on foot. They do have a couple of pictures of, you know, them but the attackers, but they're very kind of blurry and not very very good. So, and here's another Georgia. Republican state senators in Georgia on Thursday passed a bill that would force state libraries to cut ties with the American Library Association. What a great group that is. Senate Bill 390 was passed by a vote of 33 to 20 vote with no support from Democratic senators. The bill supporters cited the ALA's progressive policies and Emily Drabinski, the group's lesbian president as motivation for this legislation. Several states including Missouri, Montana, South Carolina, and Texas have announced or enacted some form of disassociation with the ALA, but the Georgia bill passed by the Senate yesterday would be the first to effectively being nearly all association with that group. Well, we remember because we have a similar bill that's going through the New Hampshire house right now I believe that would restrict materials that might be offensive to youth, so. New Hampshire won't pass that, I hope, but a frightening TV show about teen girls, this is a movie and I have a clip after this, so. Of course you do. A frightening TV show about teen girls fighting monsters seeps into the daily lives of friends Owen and Maddie. Blurring the line between reality and the images they consume in the film hit I Saw the TV Glow from non-binary filmmaker Jane Schobern. Now the trailer featuring queer actors Justin Smith and Owen and Bridget Luddenly Payne. Bill and Ted face the music as Mandy has dropped teenage Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late night TV show. A vision of supernatural world beneath their own in the pale glow of the television, Owen's view of reality begins to crack, so let's see that clip. I know this might sound crazy. I don't want to alarm you. Do you remember a TV show we used to watch together? It was called The Pinko Pig? Yeah. Do you watch? Each episode they help each other fight a new monster from across the county but it's way too scary for most kids. We're gonna defeat him this time we're gonna need to harness the full potential of our shared powers. Sometimes the Pinko Pig feels more real in real life. Mandy it was a TV show. Are you sure that's all it was? I like girls you know that right? Totally that's fine. What about you do you like girls? I think that I like TV shows. It's our destiny. I don't have a destiny. Something's wrong. This is how life is supposed to feel. Tell me you know it's true. Matty it's just the suburbs. It seems like you're always somewhere else like me. Matty disappeared without a trace. All they found was her TV set burning in the backyard. I told myself I made the right choice. What if I really was someone else? Very far away on the other side of the television screen. After the clip doesn't it look like fun? Yes and there's a film at the Green Mountain Film Festival that's sold out and I wonder if that's it. That might be it. I know but it's not. It's sold out I think. I'm pretty sure it involves glow the title so I'll get back to you on that. Oh no I really wanted to see that. I know it. Well it may be a different film. Okay. I'll double check. Okay. But now I have two stories to start with. One I'm appropriating. It took place off the coast of Hawaii but I'm declaring them international waters because I want to report on this story which involves for the first time ever two humpback whales have been documented having gay sex. I hate that one. Yes and well now let's look at a picture of said whales. I'll take it off my list. They're near Hawaii. They've been photographed having gay sex for the first time ever. The species has been photographed having any kind of sex. Exactly. Humans have been researching the social behavior of humpback whales for decades but their sexual behavior was previously undocumented and reports of penis extrusion by males are relatively rare according to the study produced by the marine mammal science journal. That changed one fateful day in January 2022 in the waters off the coast of Maui when two scientists snapped photos of two male humpback whales having sex. According to the study the two approached the boat and so they're kind of exhibitionists I think they approached the boat and slowly circled it several times remaining within approximately five meters of the surface throughout the whole encounter and allowing the researchers to photograph the whales up close. Stephanie Stack a lead author of the paper told the Guardian that the discovery challenges are preconceived notions about humpback whale behavior and that until now the sexual behavior of humpback whales had been mostly a mystery. We've long recognized the complex social structures of these incredible creatures witnessing the copulation of two male whales for the first time is a unique and remarkable event she said. The paper notes that homosexual behavior has been observed in other marine mammals including walruses various species of dolphin and other species of whale in bottle nose dolphins male male sexual behavior is well documented as an important aspect of social bonding. Researchers aren't sure about the underlying reasons for the humpback whales behavior yet although they speculate that whale b was mistakenly trying to mate with whale a that it was trying to reinforce a social bond or that it was attempting to express dominance there must be other options too that the whales know that we don't. While the exact reasons for the humpback whales having gay sex are yet to be determined one might say at the end of the day love is love. I was gonna say I my thought was okay you've been after us long enough here you are now leave us alone maybe maybe now go away now you can see your romantic moment. Now I have an overview from around the world which is a little sweeping um the one story that was kind of unpleasant involves Turks and Caicos a UK territory south of the Bahamas and it's been under the radar for a while but the Miami Herald reported on Friday that it has had a same-sex marriage case dragging on for 16 months. Case involves a binational couple who were married in Florida and were seeking to have the marriage recognized for immigration purposes based on um this based on communication with the couple and their lawyer on Friday the court delivered a sort of mixed ruling the judge ruled that the government's refusal to issue a residency permit violated the territorial constitution span on sexual orientation discrimination but it did not find the refusal to recognize same-sex marriage in itself unlawful. So recognition of same-sex couples for immigration purposes only more details we will become clear when the written ruling is released it sounds like there are grounds for appeal or for separate cases seeking additional rights for same-sex couples like in taxation though the couple's plans right now are up in the air. Turks and Caicos constitution specifically banned sexual orientation discrimination its section on marriage protects the right to heterosexual marriage but does not explicitly ban same-sex marriage. As a UK territory TNC is bound by the European Convention on Human Rights which courts have ruled requires members to recognize same-sex couples though not marriages have yet. It is possible that the UK appointed governor could use this ruling as an excuse to introduce civil union legislation like the Cayman Island governor did a few years ago. Now Cyprus campaigning for marriage equality is beginning in Cyprus the government says it will start thinking about it after it deals with gender identity legislation expected this year LGBTQ activists have been meeting with justice manager they have a meeting on March 13th with the justice manager minister which they hope will yield some progress including at a minimum amending regulations so that foreign marriages are recognized as civil unions on the island at least. The main governing party is opposed to marriage equality but they only have a minority. So it seems like the math should favor a bill if it's introduced and the current president campaigned on it last year. UK MPs killed a private members bill to ban conversion therapy on Friday. While the bill could possibly be brought back for debate it probably won't happen before the elections that are expected to be called this year. The opposition labor party writing high in the polls has pledged to ban conversion therapy so that's good. Costa Rica a bill to ban conversion therapy continues to be debated in Congress with some activists worried the government may water it down to get the necessary votes. Speaking of conversion therapy bans on conversion therapy came into effect in Portugal and the state of Morelos Mexico this week. Mexico's federal bill to ban it ought to come up for a final vote sometime this month in Congress though no date has been set. In Mexico the Supreme Court ruled that trans women are considered women when it comes to laws that deal with violence against women and femicide. El Salvador LGBT organizations in El Salvador are speaking against the governor against the government's coordinate coordinated campaign against them so let's not go to El Salvador anytime soon. Ghana I'll be more about this. There's continuing fallout from parliament passing an anti LGBTQ law. A popular news host has struck out against the bill pointing out that it will be illegal for him to interview LGBTQ people under the law and the IMF said it's closely monitoring events in the West African country after the bill which may impact how and if it works in the country is going forward and I have much more about that. Linda may cut me off about it when I get to it but let's go to Georgia the other Georgia. The caucuses country's government has announced it will introduce a bill to ban LGBTQ propaganda in the next two weeks. Georgia's democratic and human rights backsliding ought to be conserving concerning and should have negative consequences for its bid to join the European Union. Current member states Hungary and Lithuania have similar laws on the books and have both come under criticism from the EU over them. Still one expects that this is just posturing and pandering ahead of October elections. Belarus another former Soviet republic is considering its own bill to ban LGBT propaganda. It's a basic dictatorship that's closely aligned with Russia. Dictator Lukashenko's loyalists unsurprisingly won last week's parliamentary elections in which the opposition was not allowed to field candidates. He has announced that he plans to run for a seventh five-year term next year. Can we send the mega people over the Italy? We could. India the news broadcasting and digital standards authority issued guidelines relating to coverage of the LGBTQ community urging broadcasters not to promote homophobia and to refrain from outing people unless there's a true public interest. Maybe like if they're hypocrites I don't know. Canada the political right is continuing its meltdown over trans issues. The federal conservatives are running scared in the wake of a leader's comments about banning trans women from bathrooms and change rooms and the New Brunswick progressive conservatives have seen too many today's dropout of this year's elections over concerns that the party has become too anti-trans. How can you be progressive? Yeah progressive conservative but well they left because maybe they were progressive and it's too anti-trans but I could continue but I bet Linda's gonna want me to move yeah I'm beginning to anticipate your okay okay so the trivia and Ann got it we're giving her credit she gets them all not all all shucks. Professor Charles so this is Women's History Month and Friday March 8th is International Women's Day and March 8th has been celebrated as International Women's Day since 1911 which sort of took me a little by surprise but it was picked it was chosen because it coordinated with when the U.S. and Europe's really started doing organizing on behalf of women's rights and in recognition of it Becca Ballant has put out a public service announcement recognizing her role models this time she included a new individual and that person might be the first lesbian who was appointed to the federal court who might that be so looking at events we have rainbow umbrella with the women's discussion group and the book discussion group and and again I'm going to say your notes from your conversations and the women's group let's go back to the book group we're reading Zana Arafat you exist too much she's a Palestinian queer writer and we encourage our audience to come and join us just to email the show or Linda and me is it exit too much isn't it you exist too much I thought it was exit no you exist too much I have a book that was gifted to me that I may give to you but I only have one copy and it's LGBTQ stories coming out of Ukraine since the conflict started so I it is wonderful it is amazing and there's short stories that and the book looks really good so if anybody wants to uh to join us please join us please send us a message and as Anne has alluded the Green Mountain Film Festival is happening the 14th through the 17th there are queer shows that are occurring but go and check because it sounds as though some of them are already selling out so they are good going sorry so Fox Market on Saturday March 16th is their Foxy Gala which they said think of this as your queer adult prom night come dressed to whatever nines you'd like for a night of magic performances music sexy get down dancing and community love and all of the proceeds are going to help with Fox markets opening in berry that's supposed to happen this spring it's a sliding scale with a suggested donation of $50 but sliding scale is what you can afford so they would rather you come and celebrate with them very nice but also thinking of Linda and maybe an upcoming birthday on Friday March 22nd from 7 to 9 p.m. is queer poetry night with an open mic they're still waiting for you social tinkering in Rutland their social gathering is on Wednesday March 27th 6 p.m. for farmers food center on west street our friends babes in Bethel on Saturday March 16th 8 p.m. to midnight it's a queer dance party they were only charging five dollars cover and they're going to have their favorite dj's coming and doing music we should go for dancing in we're going to a book launch there oh at babes yeah all right oh lenders no it's a lesbian friend of ours lesbian mother who raised kids in Maine and you'll pass that information on so I can include it in a future event yes it's coming up soon I'll do that and someone that we haven't been promoting and we're going to a lot more rainbow bridge I went on their calendar they're doing currently doing a lot of forum saying please come in and talk with us about how we meet your needs not this is what we have to offer it's what would you like from us nice perspective they've been offering a queer writers group an open community mic with music poetry comics storytellers a craft club a board game night when was the last time we sat down and played monopoly I placed rabble all right I think that counts yeah but we can't take professional no professor Charles too and they're doing like the affinity groups support groups you know how do you identify as well as open community meetings with the come ask your questions learn about who each other is so they're doing phenomenal work and this is somebody I I would really like us to support okay so the book is I believe it's called drift the writer is penny gwee singer I think is how you pronounce it she's a lesbian mother and her one of her books she's speaking at norwich with another friend but at babes bar she's going to be reading on March 26th I'm wrong what I'm looking at 16th March 16th at 230 so it's you know it is coming right up but I encourage it you know it should be fun and I love babes yeah and back to you okay well there's fighting back in Florida where transgender activists marched on the state capital with a simple message let us live at a rally on the steps outside the building on Wednesday lgbtq leaders and progressive lawmakers slammed legislation threatening to erase trans identities beyond fighting transphobic bills trans leaders and allies also promised to speak to seek office and and sit more queer lawmakers in the halls of capital to fight republican governor Ron DeSantis DeSantis's anti-lgbtq policies and here is a picture of that group um giving a hard time to DeSantis so and the policies of Florida and Pat and I think it's been out LOG was a lambda legal attorney who worked on groundbreaking cases involving lgbtq youth sought in me laws and don't ask don't tell and later became a judge has died she died last week according to a lambda legal press release it did not state the cause of her death Pat loge was a brilliant lawyer a trans blazing a trailblazing jurist and a hero to the lgbtq community Pat's legacy includes numerous landmark cases she litigated over her 14 years as a lawyer with lambda legal that transforms the lives of lgbtq people nationwide her gifts and she will be greatly missed and here is her picture did she die of early onset Alzheimer's I don't know I didn't say um sometimes they don't say you know white people um but a 16 year old boy is recovering after he was stabbed and beaten by a group of attackers yelling racist and anti-gay slurs on a popular southern california beach video of the attack has been circulating circulating among local high schools and the victim's mother is reaching out for help the attack took place on saturday february 10th at dock wielder beach just west of los angeles international airport and directly under the flight path of departing planes the victim's mother identified only as frankie told local cw affiliate kt la that her son was attending a party and promised and promoted on social media when a friend was attacked by a group of five to 16s so u.s senator laposa butler of california the first black lesbian in the chamber kicked off a series of readings from banned books thursday on the senate floor with an excerpt from the work of another black lesbian adre lord's sister outsider butler began by invoking the first amendment to the u.s constitution and its guarantee of freedom of speech and the press without government interference this amendment gives all americans the right to speak publish and read what they wish free from government censorship uh but a nationwide campaign in states like florida utah north dakota and even california has been deployed to limit our children's learning and a force restrictions of um you know of our our reading and our um they're trying to pass all these bills so we i would like i wish i could have gotten a clip from that reading or dre lords you know but i didn't i couldn't find one and the foundation for individual rights and expression fire is seeking an emergency injunction from the supreme court that would allow its clients to host a charity drag show in late march uh at west texas a and m university only this court can halt an ongoing violation of two of the most fundamental first amendment protections the bars against uh the bars against prior restraint and viewpoint based censorship reads the emergency requests by fire which is representing the lgbtq student organization spectrum wt and two of the organization's leaders so good luck to them and um i guess this is a a continuing problem um because after they repealed don't ask don't tell thousands of veterans uh who were discharged on other than honorary or over their sexual orientation continue to face barriers for federal benefits that otherwise would have been available to them the pentagon has endeavored to address the problem but advocates say the agency has been too slow to act while service members rather than the department be a considerable burden are requesting reviews of their papers a process so complicated that many have to seek legal counsel for help navigating the bureaucratic red tape which is awful i mean you have to get a loyada help you get through good well first you have to figure out what is the office that you need to be talking with to get the action that you're seeking yeah and that can be a four-hour let me through the maze of punch two if you want yeah i worked at the va in new Orleans the bureaucracy there was unbelievable and the turnover of medical staff and and you know the waiting endlessly for appointments and then never seeing the same doctor twice it was really it was hard to watch and lastly the biden harris re-election campaign announced on wednesday that raw he rostam has been tape tapped to serve as its national organizing director becoming the first woman of color and the first lgbtq person to serve in this role for a general election presidential campaign rostam who is bangladeshi american was most recently the intern interim national organizing director for the democratic national committee where she led early organizing efforts for the campaign in arizona and wisconsin and also directed get out the vote initiatives for key 2023 races like kentucky's gubernatorial and virginia state legislative elections which saw sweeping democratic victories so congratulations to raw he rostam and um that's it for me and okay let's start with the correction the name of penny gweezinger's book is shift not drift drift was rachel manow's book is shift a memoir of identity and other illusions sounds like fun and so she'll be at babes and the other thing is i can't find i can't coordinate what's at the green mountain film festival during this show but it isn't excuse for me to encourage you to look at what they've got and get a ticket before they sell out i sold out of my horror show maybe maybe but i hope i haven't misinformed you which is possible um let's go to nigeria now and i have a picture before you of uh babatunde apalo who was a nigerian director who discussed his queer film and the lynching of a gay friend i was so touched by what happened to my friend and it made me come aware he said he's director of the gay themed nigerian film all the colors of the world are between black and white and he was shocked to learn that one of his college roommates was lynched for being gay our residence was very small with bunk beds uh it's difficult to move around in that small physical space and not get to know people well yet i never knew he was gay he was lynched the director continued that really got to me because i thought perhaps i was part of the problem he didn't trust me enough to tell me what he was going through it made me wonder and think even though we were living so close together in this same physical space our reality was completely different i couldn't imagine him going through all those things and i had absolutely no idea all the colors of the world are between black and white apalo's first feature film is a rare queer film to come come out of nigeria we're marrying someone of the same sex as you know carries a 14-year prison term it's a love story between two men bambino and bawa who meet while bawa is taking pictures around the city of legos uh the director had trouble finding actors who were willing to take gay roles but eventually tope delilah was cast as bambino and rio david as bawa the film has been a hit at festivals around the world winning the teddy award given to the best lgbtq themed feature at last year's berlin international film festival it will not however screen in in nigeria the government didn't put up any barriers to the making of the film but the director knew it wouldn't be approved by the national film and video sensors board for showing in nigerian theaters he's encouraged about the possibility of getting it on streaming services though apalo 37 who now lives in the uk urged african filmmakers to address subjects they're passionate about including those that might be considered off limits i was so touched about what happened to my friend and it made me become aware i became aware of what is going on he told variety there's a topic if there's a topic you want to approach you just have to be passionate enough about it to do the work to make it extremely authentic he added every african filmmaker should really dig dig when approaching any topic that's taboo find the order in the story so now let me give you a little plot before i show you a short clip in this astounding feature debut two young men who feel a powerful connection with one another come up against nigerian social structures bambino is a delivery driver settling into his solitary life in small apartment his new friend bawa runs a betting shop but takes photographs around legos as a hobby one beautiful afternoon bambino accompanies him on one of his sojourns and a deep palpable bond emerges between the two men living in a country where homosexuality is illegal the men dance around their feelings and each other with a clear vision the film movingly demonstrates the difficulties of expressing love in places where homosexuality remains taboo so now let's look at a short clip of all the colors of the world are between black and white if you still just waste our time you can't waste time no matter what you do time will move what we can waste is our lives i can't i couldn't find a record of where it's playing so i was gonna about to ask you i'm gonna encourage viewers to look on their own and keep their eyes peeled and uh this is a tangent but i read a wonderful memoir called asylum a memoir and a manifesto by a writer activist idaphe oporo and i encourage readers to pick it up it's really good i reviewed was able to review it um in that gay and lesbian review but it tells you not only about life in nigeria but the immigration system i mean it was really um disturbing and enlightening and ultimately inspiring i would say did it was it nigeria that expelled all their indian residents people who live there from india i think that was south africa that was south africa now i have two more one more miserable story from africa involving gana well it's uh the parliament has just passed one of the world's harshest lgbtq bills um the human sexual rights family values bill was first introduced in 2021 but it has now passed through parliament with no formal opposition it requires the signature of the president and i have a related story about that who has previously vowed never to decriminalize homosexuality at one point uh the deputy parliamentary leader attempted to introduce an amendment softening the language around the prison terms but was hackled down by other members of the parliament should the bill become law people who identify as gay lesbian by queer trans non-binary could be sentenced to up three up to three years in prison additionally those found guilty of promotion sponsorship or support of lgbtq plus activities can face up to five years in prison gay sex itself is already punishable by up to three years in prison in gana though no one has yet been convicted so there's been an objection but um gana's president um said that he is going to delay his consideration of the bill amid legal challenges and warnings that could lead to his country losing billions of dollars in funding in a statement the president uh said a challenge has been mounted at the supreme court by a concerned citizen to the constitutionality of the proposed legislation and that he will wait to the decision of the court before action is taken in regards to the bill but he's all he also adds that he's aware the bill has raised considerable anxieties in certain quarters of the diplomatic community and among some friends of gana it may look like it's back it's turning its back on its hitherto enviable long-standing record on human rights observance and attachment to the rule of law the decision follows um a warning from the finance ministry of gana which was leaked to several news publications that urges him to hold off signing the bill into law because the country might lose up to three point eight billion dollars in world bank funding a situation that could affect its ultimate economic recovery after a ghanian bill is passed by parliament the president has seven days to sign it into law if he does not he has 14 days to give his reasons um right now he's meeting with senior figures senior you know political figures to assess the impact of enforcing the bill uh however lgbtq people have already reported forced evictions loss of jobs increased violence and other violations of rights guaranteed by the constitution since the bill was introduced in parliament now you recall last year the passage of ugandist anti-homosexual law prompted the world bank to halt new loans to the east african country a spokesperson for the banks of the legislation foldament fundamentally contradicted their values so the world bank has got their aura and maybe i hope they prevail many talks i hope now let's look at a picture of two australian victims of murder jesse baird 26 and his flight attendant partner luke davies 29 they were um their bodies were found um and they were shot and killed by their ex-boyfriend who was a police officer hours after he admitted to killing and hiding them under rocks and debris in a rural area baird was a television reporter um they were found in the same surfboard bags he and his flight attendant partner luke davies that the police alleged the killer used to carry the bodies from baird's home last week um and someone else helped carry the bodies but didn't know what was in the surfboard bags um and the allegation that a police officer committed murder using his service pistol has shocked the nation and prompted sydney gay and lesbian marty grout organizers to ask police late on monday not to march in their annual parade parade weekend handgun ownership is highly restricted in australia police are reviewing gun handling procedures that enabled lamar condom the suspect to sign out his pistol to allegedly use in a violent crime off duty we're in this position that a police firearm was used and can never and that can never happen again police commissioner caron webb said we have to look to ways to mitigate that risk in whatever way we can web has taken part in the annual marty grout march and she asked the board to reconsider she said they had a fruitful meeting but people say that the the marty grout celebration began as a like in stonewall as a resistance to police police brutality although the first marty grout parade was in 1978 so there was a lot of back and forth and controversy and people threatening to defund the march the police weren't there and so forth floats would have boycotted the parade of police were out allowed to march and if they weren't so anyway they're not marching in or out of uniform so do you have any stories you want to do headlines or if you have another shorter story you could do that in headlines but i think you know well let me show you a picture of lesbian artist alexandra sco hill lingo 33 she's just received a multi-year prison sentence for criticizing putin and the mayor and the military and her former criticism was that she substituted like five or six price tags in a grocery store for anti-war messages and accusations of putin so she's already served 19 months in confinement and now they're sending her to a penal colony for like a gulag for seven years and she's not well she has bipolar heart disease PTSD celiac disease and assist on her right over it so but she's defiant good for her yeah russian similarly russian security services dragged a gay night gay night partygoers out of in out of a bar and into the snow and beat them and arrested nine of them ukrainian veterans uh let me show you a picture of victor polypenko you've ain't ukrainian veterans protests after the church withdraws the gay soldiers medals so they all got medals he was a medic and they've got medals for their performance in the war but then um he went on facebook and said i'm so surprised i got this medal from the church because the greek orthodox church they must be coming around about gay people oak and trier is it the orthodox greek orthodox yes yeah oh it is russian orthodox of course i'm so sorry linda thank you for correcting me um yes so they took it away well actually it's the ukrainian orthodox church of kiv so they took it away um a church leader quickly asserted that the denomination still considers homosexuality as sin and they took his medal away but he said what was really moving was all the vets that returned their medals in solidarity and that was really what moved him in my last story let me show you a picture of greece's first same-sex marriage uh the prime minister called congratulates congratulated demetrius elefinsonotus and stavros gavernadi so they're delighted thank you that was a fun story so this is town meeting day what we're watching is burlington will emma malvaney stanek become the first openly lgbtq plus mayor in the state of vermont we've never done it before and then we're going to be watching in may to see if berry follows suit with sam stockwell no this is just for to pick the general who's going to run no this this is it this is the election in burlington oh yeah it's the primary okay should be on tuesday okay so in one of the worst kept secrets on march 27th and bradderborough somebody may be announcing that they're running for reelection and then becca will be in burlington on march 30th for their official announcement parties but you heard it here god knows how many times after i yeah so things that things i'm going to be watching and the legislature is on break this week because of time meeting day they always have this week off but when they come back they're going to have to work quickly to meet crossover and crossover is that quirky thing in our legislature where a bill has to make it from one chamber to the other to guarantee it will be debated during that year's session so things we're watching is remember i had reported on tuition and independent schools and the alliance defending freedom and their suits against vermont schools right senate education has a house bill that will deal with this issue but it doesn't seem to be moving the other thing we're going to be watching or i'm going to be watching for is that constitutional amendment that will really put equality of rights in the vermont constitution and this is the proposal that was brought forth by marcus and it needs to pass by two-thirds and both chambers this year to be considered during the beginning of the next biennium which starts 2025 so it could go out for a vote 2026 no this has to happen very quickly and this is the story that i just found today and anybody who knows me will appreciate when i said it just stopped me in my tracks and probably for the only time you will see me do this i'm going to share a picture of a survivor of sexual violence and the reason i'm doing that is he's stepping forward and identifying who he is saying everyone else has told my story i'm reclaiming it because i want our legislature to change the law and the bill in question is s278 which is passed unanimously this bill deals with what's called comparative negligence and i want you to hold on to that this only applies in civil cases not criminal comparative negligence negligence means if you can prove that the victim who is seeking damages was at least partially responsible for what occurred you don't have to pay them if their responsibility is greater than 50 percent oh for heaven's sake no and this is vermont statutes and what happened to this poor young man he and a teammate football team were sexually assaulted at a team dinner that was off campus and the comparative negligence got brought into the case when they said he had been to a party the week before where there was boxing so he should have known that violence could occur therefore he appealed appeal to the vermont supreme court who overturned the lower court ruling who said that this young man was responsible and said no it is the school districts he is now seeking damages let no he's he's got to dance he's now seeking legislative change this this is zach blouten and i can't tell you the courage it takes for that young man to do what he just did good he testified in front of cameras in the senate judiciary and quickly the answer to the trivia question because this is also one of my personal champions first lesbian to a federal court is our own beth robinson who was our first out lgbtq member of the vermont supreme court she was instrumental in civil unions in marriage equality and she might have been vermonter of the year in 2000 when civil unions were enacted so with that remember everybody resist and vote