 Keith Gosland. I'm Ann Charles. It's Tuesday, February 12th. Welcome to All Things LGBTQ. And it's almost Keith's birthday. Almost Keith's birthday, but not quite. I'm old. No, he's the baby of the group, really. That doesn't mean I'm not old. Wouldn't I give him a headline? Can that work out well? The HRC calls on the Senate to reject Trump's attorney general nomination of William Barr and other anti-LGBTQ nominations. By his record, it makes clear that he will double down on the discriminatory agenda of just sessions and the Trump's harmful attacks on the LGBT community and equality. Josie Tota, a transgender woman, will be honored with an Upstutter Award at the organization time to thrive in California. More about that later. Elizabeth Cole, a Navajo transgender woman in Nevada, is fortunate to be alive after being shot in a hate crime. Arizona State Superintendent Kathy Hoffman is calling for repeal of the state's dangerous and backward don't-say-gay law, which bars teachers from affirming or supporting some of our most vulnerable students. Sesame Street turns 50. The Grammys. Is this the year of the queer woman? Patricia Neil Warren, author of Frontrunner Dies at 82. The lesbian writer inspired millions with her story of queer love and the pain of being in the closet. The love story became the first gay novel in modern times to be on the New York Times bestseller list. I remember reading that. It was heartbreaking. Yes. I cried. Oh, I know. He was at the 80s, wasn't it? I can't remember. It was very early on, though. Somebody will be googling it for answers. West Virginia lawmaker compares LGBTQ people to the KKK. Democrats in West Virginia- Is that because of the attire? Captains? Remember that craze? Everybody in the captain? No, I must have missed that. Me too. West Virginia calls for Eric Porterfield's resignation after his anti-LGBT remarks. And he also used the word faggots in committee. Ellen Page calls out Chris Pratt's affiliation with an anti-LGBTQ church. Black lesbians talk canceled at a Catholic school. Judge allows right-wing student group to kick gay leader out. Defying Trump's California National Guard will not discharge their transgender troops. Trump praises Karen Pence for teaching at an anti-LGBTQ school. Gay federal workers are arrested for drug trafficking on a gay-themed cruise. Oops. They were selling Viagra. I'm not going there. You can't make me. Nebraska has established the state's first LGBTQ rights organization. Pro-LGBT victories are not many in that state. And so out Nebraska is now launched. And in relation to the school where Pence is teaching, the other schools in the district are refusing to do intramural sports because they don't feel safe going into the school. Although they're going to let the other, you know, let the deplorable school go into their auditorium. But they're not going to go into there. Because you know affiliation with us all you have to do is touch us and there you are. Good for them. So as of July 1st, there will be a non-binary option on Vermont's driver's license. And we'll talk a little bit about that. And in response to that change, Senator Bray from Addison County is looking at introducing legislation into the Senate. Bill has not been drafted yet. That will then look at all the other state-issued documents. And do we collect gender? And does there need to be a non-binary option? I had hoped to have an update on the Belto Alberto Sanchez Perez who was the LGBTQ migrant worker who had been arrested on the DWR charge, then taken into custody by ICE, looking at deportation. But there's been no information forthcoming, even though the hearing should have happened. I'll give a little update on H3, the bill that's going through relative to Ethnic and Social Standards Committee. And there's a new bill that's been introduced, H185, which we'll talk about a bit that has to do with transgender students and athletics. Another bathroom bill. The Alliance Defending Freedom. We know these people. They've shown their ugly face here in Vermont, and we'll talk a little bit about that. And then a bill that got introduced into the Senate, S45, which looks as though it might be partly in response to this. And we'll talk about the dynamics of that. The feds think that we're wealthy and they're withholding $2 million. We'll definitely talk about that. Patriot Front. Alliance Defending Freedom is here. Let's see what other hate groups we can invite. They put posters over the doors and the logos at the Pride Center of Vermont, Art Right Vermont, and Ohavi's Zed synagogue. And there was a rally, some interesting responses. I'll talk a little bit about that. And the trivia question. Well, first I have a quote that you don't have to guess at, which you were thankful for. This was the comment that was made. These are not mic covers. They're mic condoms. We practice safe sound. That was said in February of 1995 when the flirtations were performing at the Flynn Theater in Burlington. But in acknowledgment of Valentine's Day, 1988, there was a kiss in. Where and why? And then they'll have information to share afterwards. I'd like to start by adding to Linda's headlines that Patricia Nell Warren's The Front Runner was published in 1974. That was really early. Very early. Very sad. My headlines concern New Zealand. First off, Jacinda Adurn, who is the Prime Minister, returns to the big gay out, which occurs in Auckland. Same sex marriage lawsuits to be filed on Valentine's Day by 13 couples in Japan. In conservative Catholic Poland, a gay and atheist politician is seizing the moment. So those are kind of upbeat. Now some bad news. Primary school teacher found stabbed to death in Mexico in a hate crime for being gay. A Russian town shrugs at the murder of an older gay couple. Two stories of erasure from Brazil involving boy erased, which is erased from Brazilian cinemas. And Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, deplorable whom we've spoken about, plans to erase LGBT content from schools. Also feminist content. He's going to try to have some public schools taken over by the military. So he's got plans. The Berlin monument to gay victims of Nazi persecution was vandalized once again. Gay porn star fined a thousand pounds for a late night orgy on the London underground in front of shocked passengers. Priced out of pride. Why the Manchester events ticket hike is just the tip of the money making iceberg. There's a little bit of a critique there. Manchester is in England? Yes, it is. Remember the song? Disney, speaking of corporate takeovers, is planning an official LGBTQ pride event in, it's called Magical Pride in Paris. And as our mentors, as our mentor in Northampton said on their show Gay USA, you know, originally gay people would just declare a gay day and go on their own. But now, Disney is arranging to host, to appropriate it. It has all to do about marketing and income. I'm kidding. And if we have time, I can expatiate on that subject. But first, let me get on my dictionary. I suddenly feel very vulnerable. I have more. Well, it's time for the segment with Linda. Those are my headlines. Okay. I don't know if I can follow that. Josie Toda, 17-year-old Davis native, who has appeared in several films and television shows that's leaving Yolo County in 2012 for Los Angeles. Some of these films and shows include Other People, Spider-Man, Homecoming, Jesse, Champions and more. Toda then wrote an opinion piece in August about her excitement for these new chapters in her life, starting for the first semester of college, continuing her acting career, and coming out as a transgender female. That's the woman who's getting the award. Which award? Up-Starter Award. What about Bert and Ernie? I say we just leave them alone. I say who are they? Sesame Street? Sorry. Professor Charles, a big bird? No, Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street. There's been rumors about them for years. Now I'm going to tell you. Sesame Street aired the same year as the Stonewall Riots. Riot. Oh, I didn't realize that. I know, and they both changed history. Mark Salisman, the out-screen writer, and he was also a writer for Sesame Street, says yes. Bert and Ernie were actually gay. And he always felt that without a huge agenda, when he was writing about Bert and Ernie, to reflect a lot of gay couples, but also his life as a gay person, as a gay male. And he didn't have any way to contextualize them. So the other thing was, more than one person referred to Ernie, Mark's partner and himself, as Bert and Ernie. Okay, so the LBGT artist dominated Saturday Night's 61st Grammy Award with history-making wins with a number of memorable performances. Pop icon Lady Gaga and country singer, songwriter Brandy Carlisle, both broke the records after being the first out winners in their categories. Gaga, who identifies as bisexual, took home three awards on Sunday. Not only issued the first openly LGBTQ artist to win the Grammy in the best pop solo performance category for her song Joanne. Jolene. Jolene? Yes. Is it Jolene? Because I have it here, it's copied from the article. Jolene. Anyway. You've heard that song, right? Oh, Jolene, right. That's Dolly Parton. Yeah. Where do you think you're- Oh, is that Dolly Parton? Yeah. Jolene is Dolly Parton. Oh, I'm so sorry. No, this is Jolene. Lady Gaga. I know. I'm so sorry. I apologize. Where do you think you're going? But she also won awards for best song written for visual media and best pop duo, group performance for Shallow, the duo that she co-wrote and performed in A Star Is Born. She had also- She has also been nominated for the best pop solo performance twice before. Other award winners included queer artist St. Vincent, who won in the best rock song category and best recording package category for her track and album. Both titled Mass Seduction. The gay song writer is Benj Pasek and Shane McAunt Lee, I think that's how it's pronounced, who were honored for their collaboration on the greatest showman soundtrack. And Casey Mulgraves, Golden Hour, respectfully. I'm so sorry about that Jolene thing, but if I may just try to recover. Dolly Parton did sing Jolene with- Yeah. Right? Yes. Well, it was a tribute to Dolly. Exactly. And there were other female artists and they all sang together. So I do apologize for jumping in there. That's okay. I hope no one sends emails. Don't bother, okay? Because- There will be penance Monday. Don't you have a picture of Brandy Carlisle? I have a picture of Brandy. Yes, I do. So we'll show that. She also, from what I was reading, I didn't read, but she's married to a woman named Catherine, and I can't remember her last name. But they have like three children also. So- I think she's scheduled to perform in Vermont this summer. I would love to hear her. Oh. We should mark our calendar. It may be part of the Ben & Jerry's concert series at the Shelburne. Yeah, we'll have to look that up, because I also heard her interviewed on a VPR and I was pretty entertaining. Chris Pat Pratt appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote his role in the new Lego movie. Page called out Pratt on Twitter for his affiliation with an anti-LGBTQ church, Hillsong. Hillsong's pastor, Brian Houston, claims that he loves all LGBTQ people while reiterating that he would not affirm the lifestyle. He also says that he believes God's word is clear on this issue. That marriage is between one man and one woman. So let's go to you now. David and Jonathan doesn't come to mind. What are you doing behind that rock? Hi. So Alliance Defending Freedom, who we've mentioned on several occasions, a little back's information. Vermont has a program called a dual enrollment, whereby a senior in high school can do their first year of college while still attending high school. And it's, excuse me, the tuition is paid for by the state of Vermont. Well, the Alliance Defending Freedom brought suit against the state of Vermont saying this was discriminatory because faith-based or parochial schools students could not participate in this process. In 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that no faith-based and parochial schools students could not participate because the state could not pay a faith-based or parochial school tuition separation of church and state. So this suit is ongoing. The Alliance Defending Freedom seems to have discovered we're here, oh shucks, but also of interest. There was a bill that's been introduced into the Senate and Debbie Ingram, Interfaith Coalition, Interfaith Action is one of the lead sponsors. And what this bill would do is say, you know, this program should indeed be open to everybody. We're put in a provision in place that a student who attends a parochial faith-based school could be eligible for the dual enrollment program, but they have to pay their own tuition. You know, that the state cannot pay for it, so the student or their parents has to pay for it. So we'll be watching this as it goes through the process and really look at the conversation that happens surrounding it. And that happens in a lot of places. I don't want my taxes to go towards paying for Catholic school educations. Exactly. Because we've seen the curriculum. Yes. Someone here can personally attest to that. That's right. The other, you know, let's invite hate to our state as people are well aware, Patriot Front. Over the weekend, they put their posters over the logo of the Price Center of Vermont, Outright Vermont, and Ohavi Zed Synagogue in Burlington. Well, there was a community response and there was a rally that occurred last Friday. Now of interest, prior to the rally happening, the rabbi for Ohavi Zed found more signs on their back door. It was hearts saying, we are your neighbors, we have your back. So it was entirely different, but that was shared. What was also of interest is that both the Burlington Police Department and the Vermont State Police, and particularly Farron and partial policing, showed up in fairly large numbers. They were 8 to 10 in each contingent. And when they were approached, their comment was, we're here in support of you. We are here to stand with you. And TJ Donovan also showed up. He was not invited to speak, nor as the police were not invited to speak, but they were clearly visible and talking with people. And TJ reaffirmed to the people who were in the crowd about the new reporting policies for his department relative to bias and hate crimes, which we had actually been talking about before we started taping with the incident that had occurred with Kaya Morris of late, where the person who has been harassing her and her family was arrested for possessing magazines for semi-automatic assault weapons that are no longer in compliance with the Vermont statutes. What was interesting is that this had been reported to the Bennington Police in October, after the law had taken effect, and the Bennington Police did nothing. Well, when TJ redid the protocols so that all bias and hate-motivated crime reports, regardless if you knew the perpetrator, if you were charging, would go to his office, late January, he became aware of this and immediately started an investigation and the person has been charged. So TJ seems to be keeping to his word. Well, what he had said was, please let me know about it so we can look at all of what surrounds this because usually it's not just an isolated incident. He said, let's look at if we cannot charge a crime per se for bias or hate motivation. Let's look at are there other civil cases that could go forward? And this is one of those where they clearly had information. It would have been used for another, yeah. So there is an internal investigation that will be going on done by and independent law enforcement to find out exactly what is happening. And then the Department of Justice bear withholding over $2 million from Vermont because they think our fair and impartial policing policies make us look like we're a sanctuary state and they kind of sort of don't like that. Can they do that? They can withhold anything they want, but the state of Vermont may be suing them saying, wait a minute, federal statutes are very clear about what immigration and ICE are allowed to do and what they're not allowed to do, and they're not allowed to require a local or state law enforcement to actively participate with them. And I think where it's coming into question is when Major John has testified before the legislature relative to fair and impartial policing, her comment was that what they're embedding in the policy is we don't need to know your immigration status, so we're not going to ask. So any reports that get submitted are not including immigration specific identification because Vermont doesn't need that. And I think that's part of what the feds are objecting to. They want this sort of, you know, complicency that we're not willing to give them. So because, you know, there is... So this is kind of blackmail money, right? Well, this is kind of, you know... Like either you do it, we want to work... Right. You're going to play by our rules and you're going to share all of your information with us. Well, legally and constitutionally they're not allowed to do that. And Vermont's calling them on it. Good. So it's going to be really interesting to follow. So now you said you had nice things about New Zealand. Yes. The big gay out has occurred in Auckland. Is that like Friday? Well, sort of. It's like a big fair because, you know, in New Zealand they have the gay Mardi crowd. Just another event. But this is... And they have the penguins or whatever they have. Ducks. Some penguins. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. But the 20th anniversary of the big gay out has occurred and the Prime Minister Jacinda Adurn appeared and she's been there before. Right now I have a picture before you of Jacinda Adurn posing with her fans. You can see a flamboyant fan there. 10,000 people attended. It's really an ending HIV event at Auckland's Coil Park. It's been going on for many years. She's been there before but this is her first time as the Prime Minister. I've lost count of the amount of times I've felt proud to stand on this stage, she said, in a speech to a cheering audience. It's one of the many events that shows the incredible diversity of New Zealand and that is something to be celebrated. Another occurrence, Labour List MP Tamati Kofi and his partner Tim Smith, they are picture before you. They were there. They used the occasion to announce that they were going to have a baby in July. So there they are celebrating and holding hands I believe. So good news from New Zealand. 13 couples in Japan will be filing damage suits against the state at four district courts across the country on February 14th. Arguing that denying same-sex couples the right to marry is a violation of their constitutional right to be treated equally under the law. These are the first lawsuits of their kind in Japan. I'd like to show you now a picture of Chinzuka E 58 and Yoko Ogawa 55 who've been living together in Tokyo's Nakano Ward for over 20 years. They were the first couple to register under the Nakano Ward partnership oath certification program that started last year. But the certification does not guarantee the same rights as marriage and only 11 municipal governments nationwide issue similar certificates. E and Ogawa believe they should have equal rights wherever they choose to live and that prompted them to become plaintiffs in a damages suit against the state. They've experienced more than their share of pain when at Ogawa mother's Ogawa's mother's funeral some 20 years ago her relatives look quizzically at her partner who was helping out with everything. They couldn't come out and say we're family. Several years ago when Ogawa fell ill she told the hospital that E was a close friend with whom she lived. At the end of the year sometime back E received a phone call from her sister saying that their father was being grilled and chided for the fact that his daughter was homosexual. E rushed to their home and tried to explain herself to them. The women both women believe that an open society that approves of same-sex marriage is likely a society that's kinder to everyone and that's the question they would like to pose to society and the government through the lawsuit. Now I have good news from Poland. Yeah that's right Robert Bydron celebrated late last year that his party was polling at almost 10 percent. With no party name or agenda in almost two years until the presidential elections he had nevertheless embarked on an improvised road trip across Poland to rally crowds for his cause. Speaking in shopping centers and community halls the 42-year-old was being welcomed welcomed by mostly young and urban audience members who applauded his demands to separate church and state phase out coal and improve rights for women and LGBT people. Now we have a picture of him on Sunday the openly gay former LGBT rights activist finally announced the name of his new party Spring. As he rallied his supporters around their shared goal of gaining a substantial number of seats during European elections in May, parliamentary elections later this year and perhaps even more support during the presidential elections in 2020. There's no room for hate we've reached the limit he said in Warsaw on Sunday speaking to thousands of supporters. Is that where the mayor was dead? That was Gdansk and he was in Poland and he was an ally of this mayor and you know they're kind of almost dismissing this brutal assassination because the assailant was mentally ill. But why did you pick him? Well yeah his speech on Sunday sounded like the early days of French president Emmanuel Macron when he started as an underdog outside the traditional party system before quickly gaining momentum as voters abandoned the country's two mainstream parties in droves but Poland isn't France. As Bidron acknowledged in an interview with the Washington Post he said that he had taken inspiration from Macron and leftist Senator Bernie Sanders but he maintained that Poland is distinct. The current political leadership was living in medieval times. He joined parliament in 2011 before serving as the mayor of the northern Polish city Slipsk where he quickly gained popularity. Many Poles agree that they like Bidron as a politician according to recent popularity rankings but the question is whether a sufficient number of voters in a country with some of Europe's most restrictive abortion laws, a strong Catholic church and a strong dependency on coal will share his progressive vision of the country. So good luck to him. Now should I move to a sad story from Mexico? Okay our IP Hugo Mendez and I have a picture of him to show you. He was a gay primary school teacher found stabbed to death in Mexico. A teacher who worked in Puebla. He was found murdered in his home neighbors called the authorities after they heard a struggle. When paramedics arrived to help him he was already dead. Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime. Mendez was killed because of his sexuality according to activists. Individuals close to him described him as a very committed and sensitive person who would receive numerous threats because of his sexuality. As well as teaching kids, Mendez was a dance coach and costumer for a youth group. He also dedicated himself to humanitarian efforts and charity causes for children in Puebla. They did not kill him for being a teacher or for selling costumes or for having a dance group. They killed him because of his sexual orientation. He was one of us an activist said. Around six members of the LGBTQI community are murdered each month in Mexico. At least 202 murders of LGBTI people occurred between 2014 and 2016. Trans women face the majority of the violence. A total of 108 trans women, 93 gay men and one lesbian was killed. Alejandro Brito executive director of the human rights group there said they're often killed by gangs. The activist has also noted the pattern of violence was different depending on the victim's sexual orientation or gender identity. Gay men are often targeted by robbers with gangs even specializing in this type of crime. These criminals often seduce the person either in person or via an app and then once the victim's home they kill him. It's not enough for the criminal to rob them. Brito said he kills them and so with cruelty with extreme brutality and does so with cruelty and extreme brutality as if they were he were punishing the victim for his sexual orientation. Very sad and just today as I was leaving I saw that another LGBTQ activist was murdered in Mexico and I'll report on that next time. Is this in the countryside or Mexico City? That was a cuaca and this was in Puebla small town. I think it's pervasive. It's everywhere, sure. Should I go on with another story? No. It's another downer. So we can wait but I'll get to it. Black lesbian talk was canceled at a Catholic school. Vernetta Alston, a Durham City Council member was to speak at the Immaculata Catholic School for Black History Month. The entire event was canceled because some groups planned to protest although it was never clear or named any of these quote protest groups so I don't really know if there was any protest groups. There were complaints anyway. There were complaints but they said they were going to cancel it because there were going to be these protests and but you know nobody could really say what these protests would be so and interestingly she's also an alumni of this particular school and she was quoted as saying she feels that the school is depriving students the chance to honor Black History Month and in doing so is condemning the lives and rights of the LGBT community. They are sending a sad regressive and life-altering message to our children and I have a picture of her which you can see. So they canceled all of Black History Month events because of this one woman who was invited. I'm assuming they didn't know she was gay when they invited her but and she was an alumni but I don't know. An alumna. Yeah. She went to school there. She did. A federal judge ruled that the University of Iowa could not deregister a student group for denying gay student for leadership. This is really interesting because this is a very conservative business group called Business Group Leaders in Christ and one of their members who was gay wanted to be part of the leadership and they told him no because he was gay he couldn't and so the school tried to reprimand this group saying you know you can't discriminate against a person in your group because he's gay and but the court said that the University could not punish for violating human rights for discriminating against a student based on sexual orientation. The conservative group supports a bill under consideration in Iowa to shield conservative groups and provide space for individual freedom. The bill has advanced through the senate committee so I'll be more on that. So I thought that was pretty interesting. Okay two black men are dead but Ed Buck is still at home. His home has had protesters. It's been kneeling a month since 55 year old Timothy Dean died there. A month since 100 protesters and reporters came to his house and this is the second death that's occurred there and the community is getting pretty frustrated with why nothing has been done in two months. He is also a democratic donor, a big donor. Yeah. Okay. He gives lots of money. Now this is a good story because the life of Texas hate group leader left him for a woman. I know. Jonathan Sanez is president of Texas values. The state's leading anti-LGBT group and says that the ultimate goal of the pro-LGBT bills that are proposed are trying to ban the bible. I don't remember the bible ever being mentioned in any of no. In 2011 his wife divorced him to be with a female co-worker. Oh well. I know. You think that's why he's pissed? I think he was pissed before. Was he? I think he was pissed before. I think he's just a curmudgeon. Okay. I'm done. I think she was good for getting out. Yeah. So a little follow-up with the buck. There's two murders. Why is he still walking the street and there's questions about how investigations are being done? Right. Is this really not being given the attention it deserves because they were- He's a big donor. Well, and also because they were gay young men of color. Yeah. So Toronto. I was just thinking about that. As a serial killer, he is going to plead guilty to the eight murders that they've charged him with, which when you look at the analysis of the police's investigation, they only took it seriously with the last victim who was a white middle-class gay man. All of the others were immigrants, people of color. And what I did not see, and it seems to have just fallen by the wayside, they were looking at a series of murders 20 years ago in this same region when our same confess serial killer was living there that were never solved. And for which the community said, we think there is a serial killer here. The police were like, no, no, no, no, no. And it's really bringing out the homophobia within the Toronto police. There were investigations and how justice is done. Well, there was that one in Australia, the same thing, right? Chased you and you're going over the edge of the cliff and it's like, oh no, there's no connection. They slept. Are you going to say something about Toronto pride? In the analysis I read, if I may, pride is in the shambles over the question of the police. Yeah. Last year, there was a huge split. Black Lives Matters initially had stopped the parade because of the police presence. That was two years ago. Last year, the controversy was renewed and the decision was made that the LGBTQ members of law enforcement could participate as an organization as a group, but they could not be in uniform. And it's still not resolved as far as... And what I read was all these revelations now are rekindling the whole dispute and it's falling apart. That's what I heard. They need to find a corporate sponsor. But that's another conversation. I'm ready to expatiate. Okay. I'm feeling vulnerable yet again. So some pieces of legislation here. As I had said, as of July 1st, there will be new licenses issued. The Department of Motor Vehicle has a new software vendor. So there's lots of things happening with the license, including the press release saying there's a holographic imagery of the Vermont logo and butterflies on the license now. I can hardly wait. That would, in theory, make them more difficult to forge. But there's also going to be a non-binary option under gender. You can put male, female, or ex. Senator Bray, who is from Addison County, had heard about this and said, okay, well, we should go further. We should look at the rest of state-issued documents, state-issued identification. Is gender included? If so, is there a real need to include this? Does something happen with that information? Or are we merely doing it because, oh my, is what we've always done? Or do we include a non-binary option wherever gender is being entered? So it's going to be interesting to see what happens with that. What happens if you have an ex on your license and you don't want to get a federal passport? Was that going to be an issue? Because they asked for birth certificate and all that kind of stuff. Who knows, huh? Well, I was going to say, as I'm thinking really quickly, looking at the documents that were required in applying for a passport, it may become more of an issue when we get to a non-binary option on birth certificates. We're not there yet. And there are other forms of identification other than merely the enhanced driver's license that you're supplying. There would be other documents that potentially would meet that requirement and is there really a need to have it on passports? I didn't say that. The other bill that's been introduced as of interest is H185. And this has been introduced by Representative Rachelson from Burlington. And this is looking at all of those, and here's the language, gender segregated school programs, activities and facilities. And what this bill is basically doing is a student bill of rights, that you should be allowed to participate in any of those activities or facilities based upon your identified gender, not necessarily the gender on record with the educational facility. So they just heard this for the first time today. And basically it's just an introduction. The sponsor comes in and says, this is what I introduced. This is the reason I introduced it. This is what it will do. So we'll be following the committee closely to see what it is that happens. The other bill that's going through and that we're watching really closely is H3, which would create an ethnic and social studies standard curriculum task force. And LGBTQ is clearly identified in the bill. However, it is running into some debate because sexual orientation and gender identity were added into the bill actually fairly late in the process and were included under the reporting requirements, that the Department of Education School districts would be required to collect information. What the bill is really looking at doing is trying to create a database where we can look at demographics and performance and say, okay, people of color, this is how they're performing and this is the issues of bullying and harassment that may be having an impact on that. And what the Department of Education came into committee and was saying is we do not currently ask students to identify sexual orientation and gender identity, nor do we ask their parents to identify it of the student. So it's data that they are not collecting and they had real concerns that if they started requiring this, a student in middle school, and I keep thinking about our youth edition where they're still learning about themselves and, oh, these are my true options and this is what it means and these are the language to define it. Excuse me. My response back to the people who are working on the bill is that at this point in time in as far as gathering information, I am more concerned about school districts being required to investigate and report in a comprehensive manner the incidents of bullying and harassment because at this point in time school districts are not reported, are not required to report those to anybody under any circumstance. That's not okay. And by virtue of looking at the harassment and bullying, what you're really looking at is the motivation. Whether you really do know if I am or are not a gay man, the fact that you are harassing me because of my perception that I might be, that's what we really want. What is this happening in schools? And then we can start looking at, okay, can we start gathering information so we can make a direct correlation to how that is impacting students' performance because we already get some of this data from the Department of Health Youth risk survey where they look at the really high percentage of students who identify as transgendered not wanting to go to school because it doesn't feel safe. We can really start collecting some of the data in a comprehensive manner. So you've got a bunch of time now. Do I? Let's go to Ilsky in Russia. No, because they're going to do bad things. They did bad things. They killed an older gay couple, 70-year-old Vladimir Dumetsov and 64-year-old Nikolai Galden. Their bodies were discovered. People talked to a correspondent who went down to investigate and didn't want to be named in the story, not because they were ashamed of how these two men were harassed and even murdered, but because they were embarrassed that a gay couple lived in their town at all. Many in townspeople don't conceal their hatred and complain to the reporter that the couple was openly gay. They had struggles every step of the way with the town authorities. They began to fight with neighbors. Local youth began to torment and abuse them. Dumetsov started lobbying the local government for priority housing that many in the community felt he didn't deserve. He regularly called local officials demanding assistance and entitlements. He was the son of a World War II veteran, his mother served in the naval war against Japan. After the reporter left, police arrested a 23-year-old named Alexander Fett Ogly. He had been incarcerated for burglary. He has a history with the local Cossacks. As a teenager, he traveled to Krimsk in 2012 with the group helping flood relief efforts. His father was also a Cossack member. The young man was arrested a day before he was due to ship out for contract military service. He confessed to the killings claiming that the gay men had made a pass at him. While they were all drinking together and he defended himself, it seems he went a bit overboard, the police told the reporter. On January 13, Dumetsov remains were laid to rest next to his mother's grave. Gauldin's body is still at the town morgue as official search for his relatives. He won't be buried beside his longtime part. So we'll skip Brazil since I already summarized it. Let's talk about the gay monument, the monument in Berlin for gay victims of Nazi persecution. The duo of Elmgreen and Dragset was first commissioned to do the memorial in 2003, located near Berlin's Holocaust Museum. The sculpture is dedicated to homosexuals who were persecuted by the Nazis during World War II when men could be arrested for even so much as kissing each other in public, which is what we were talking about last time. Inside the memorial, a short looped video typically plays. The video is switched every few years and I have a picture now of the memorial. This marks the second time the work titled Memorial to Homosexuals Persecuted Under Nazism has been defaced since it was unveiled in 2008. They should point the camera right at it from across the street or something. It resembles a cuboidal concrete block with a small window carved into it. It was vandalized using black paint, and the picture I showed you has the black paint at the bottom. Authorities have been investigating it as a politically motivated matter. A few months after the work was first erected, viewers ripped down the fencing and smashed the sculptures window. Obviously, many people still have homophobic tendencies in German politicians, old writers. We should see where Patriot Front was that weekend. Yeah, really. Let's talk about a colorful incident on the London Underground. Where they were charging admission. I have a picture of the two gentlemen involved. They are George Mason 35 and Nicholas Milan 24. They shot an X-rated film as they had an orgy and just three stops on the northern line. This is between Lester and Waterloo. We've been on that. We have. The journey only lasts for five minutes, but the reindeer pair managed to perform an array of sexual activity. In five minutes? Mason later posted the film on Twitter and boasted it is outrageously horny. We could not stop ourselves. The porn star, who goes by this stage name, Hung Young Brit, has now been given an 18 month community service order and fined a thousand pounds with core costs of 170 pounds. Mullen, who calls himself Toby on a male escort site, was handed a 12 month community order and required to pay core costs of 170 pounds. Both admitted outraging public decency at Westminster Magistrates Court following the ROM in July 2017. The court heard how the pair, who were previously in a relationship, but not at the time they had sex, had spent the day together in north London before deciding to lead to head to Mason's home in south work. But as they traveled on the busy train, the amorous lovers put an esteemy display to the horror of other passengers, while the third man filmed them. British Transport Police were contacted when another gay man reported- I'm sorry I wasn't on that train. That would have been something. The Transport Police were contacted when another gay man reported the video had been uploaded on February 19th last year. Magistrate Lucinda Lubbock was shown stills of the sex acts and said this was a very unpleasant and serious offense on the public underground. Giving the pair orders, community orders, she added, this is a lesson to both of you. You have been humiliated in the court of social media. All my years writing on public transit. Well, our trivia question. Gay kissing. Sounds like fun. 1988. And you have stories to share. St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, 75 lesbians and gay men in protest of Cardinal John O'Connor. What a lovely man he was. And you wanted to add that Ann Northrop was arrested at this very protest and carried out bodily from the St. Patrick's Cathedral. All are welcome. Well, I think that's it for tonight, don't you? Isn't there another part? No, no, you did that. Well, I did the flirtations. I didn't get a chance to expatiate, but I will next time. I wanted to expatiate about the corporatization of Pride Day. I think that's a show in and of itself. Well, I'm ready. So what do you have to say? I say, as always, resist.