 and Charles. I'm Keith Gosland. And I'm Linda Quinlan. And welcome to all things LGBTQ. Today is January 9th, Tuesday. And we acknowledge that we are taping at Orca Media, which is unceded Indigenous land. So we have a breaking story tonight from Keith. So let's go right to Keith. And this is something that actually I personally experienced this morning. I received a telephone call early. My caller ID identified it as coming from Central Vermont Home Health and Hospice. It had the correct switchboard number for Home Health and Hospice. However, the phone call, the conversation that ensued, young man, a not traditional American accent starting to ask me all kinds of information about my Medicare. I hung up on them when they started asking me for effective dates and basically personal information. I called Home Health. This was not something that they were doing. I am not a recipient of care from Home Health. This was a scam. And the intention was to get enough identifying information to do fraudulent claims. It has been reported to the Consumer Fraud Division of the Office of Attorney General. However, if you receive a call, it says it's from Home Health. My suggestion is you let it go to voicemail and then call Home Health and ask them if they are trying to reach you. These people are very clever at what they're doing. And with that, Ann's going to take me to places that I really don't want to go. That is correct, but there's some good stories and I have some sweeping stories involving the top 10 international news stories of 2023. And actually, there are 11 because right as we- 22 or 23? Did I say 2023? Yeah. Oh, please, sorry. Off the band start. You were correct. It's from top stories from last year. 2023, right? Right. Is it 24? Yes. I'm sorry. I did say 2023, right? Yes, you did. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. Well, that just combobulated me from the get go. But let me tell you, there are 11 stories because right as I was leaving for the studio, I learned that the new prime minister of France is gay. And I have to leave it to our colleague, Kim Ward, who's going to do the international news on the next show to fill in the details. And he's also their youngest prime minister. But back to 2023, actually, that's news of 2024, isn't it? So now that we're hung up on the dates. The top 10 stories of 2023 are number 10. Mauritius and the Koch Islands decriminalized homosexuality. This was an October 4 ruling that decriminalized consensual same sex relations in the country. Lawmakers in the Koch Islands in April vetoed voted to repeal a provision of the 1969 law that decriminalized homosexuality in the country. And the British number eight, British prime minister, Sunak, fires the anti-LGBTQ home secretary. And I reported on this at the time. This was on November 15th. Suella Braverman, his country's, his government's controversial home secretary, who was a vocal opponent of LGBTQ rights, was fired. She opposed transgender rights, saying trans women have no place in women's wards or indeed any safe space related to biological women. In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, she said the country will not be able to sustain an asylum system if, in effect, simply being gay or a woman and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection. So she's gone. Number eight, and I have a picture now of Edgar's Rinkevich, who's Latvia's first openly gay president. This is a landmark appointment. He became on July 8th. This occurred. He'd been the country's foreign minister since 2011. He was the first, he is the first openly gay head of state in a European Union country or a nation that was once part of the Soviet Union. Number seven, anti-LGBT crackdowns. Continue in Russia and Eastern Europe. We know this. There's no point in elaborate, really, and some of it will come up in my later headlines, of course. Number six, Thailand is poised to become the next Asian country to extend marriage rights. Number five, Latin America's first non-binary judge was killed by his partner. This was in Mexico's Acuas Caliente State on November 13th. Jesus Ociel Baena was the first non-binary judge who was found dead in their home. Number four, and this is a red letter thing, red letter headline for which the world might rejoice. Brazilian president Lula de Silva was sworn before Bolsonaro supporters stormed the capital. So he was sworn in, and I saw a report on Rachel Maddow last night that contrasted what happened when Bolsonaro tried to storm the capital after he lost on January 8th and what happened on January 6th in the U.S. Bolsonaro was living in Miami and welcomed by the far right in the U.S., but he's out. He can't run again for many years. So that is good news. Number three, Uganda's anti-homosexuality act signed into law, anti-LGBTQ crackdown in Nigeria. Neighboring countries seek to implement similar statutes, but the Namibian Supreme Court rules that the country must recognize same-sex marriages. So it's not all bad from Africa, but I have some bad news to come. Number two, the Indian Supreme Court rules against marriage equality. This was on October 17th, and number one, the war in Israel and Ukraine, and we'll talk a little more about that in upcoming stories. But my next point of world news involves the Vatican, my friends. It doubles down. So I told you last time, the pope issued this ruling, which has a very fancy Latin name. Where you can be blessed, right? Right. You can be blessed. But you have to ask for it. You have to ask for it. It has to be in private. No, it is not marriage equality. So there's been some response. It was greeted by bishops conferences with reactions that ran the gamut from embracing its guidance to outright banning local priests from applying it. Many bishops conferences in Western countries, underscoring that it's not marriage, reacted positively to the document, but others, particularly in Africa, were vocal in their oppositions. The Zambian bishops conference issued a statement on December 20th stating that the Vatican document should be taken as for further reflection and not for implementation in Zambia. Don't do it in Zambia. In Malawi, the bishops conference directed the blessings of any kind for same-sex unions of any kind are not permitted in Malawi. So much for the Pope being the last word, huh? Well, and now the chairman of the U.S. Bishops Committee on Laity Marriage and Family Life and Youth explained in a statement on December 21st that this is no way calls for a change in the church's teaching regarding marriage and sexuality. The President of the Argentine Bishops Conference said on December 30th that it would be inappropriate to inquire about the moral life, and that follows the original thing. They said you can't question people, give morality lectures if they ask for the blessing. Some bishops have forbidden priests in their diocese from imparting the pastoral blessings laid out in the Vatican document. Archbishop Tomasz Peta and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Astana Kazakhstan said in a December 19th statement that they prohibit priests in the faithful of the archdiocese of St. Mary in Astana from accepting or performing any form of blessing whatsoever of couples in an irregular situation in the same sense. Irregular situation? Well, that's it. Other local contexts, the Vatican statement said some bishops have given priests encouragement to discern when such blessings may be appropriate, but the people who are interpreting this document insisted that a priest may perform the blessings only in private. So the press release, the Vatican issue doubling down on its rulings supposedly, also noted that catechesis will be necessary in some places to help people understand that such blessings are not an endorsement of the life led by those who request them or a form of absolution with simple expressions of pastoral closeness. So there we go. All right, we have one more story for you and then we're going to have to move on to Keith. Well, I have my only story from Latin America which is delightful, I think, and involves a picture. Let's take a look now at some gender binary, one-a gender binary defined bird. Well, on vacation in Colombia in 2022, Homish Spencer, a professor of zoology at the University of Otago in New Zealand, spotted a blue and green wild honey creeper bird with the help of an amateur ornithologist. And so this report was just published in the Journal of Field Ornithology. Typically, green honey creeper females have green features, hence the name probably, while males have blue feathers. So they have green feathers and blue feathers. And let's look at a picture of this wild honey creeper, a non-binary wild honey creeper. And they call it girly, which I hate, but this girly, which means general neutral, has a near even split of green and blue plumage, which is also just a beautiful sight to behold, and you just beheld it. Because they didn't capture the bird, which I'm pleased about personally, it is unknown whether it has male and female reproductive organs, according to the Smithsonian. This phenomenon, when animals have both male and female characteristics in a species that usually has separate sexes, is referred to as bilateral gynendromorphi, and it's extremely rare. As Spencer notes in the press release, many birdwatchers go their whole lives and do not see a bilateral gynomorph in any species of bird. According to Spencer, bilateral gynendromorphi, now this is the third time I think I've gotten the pronunciation right, is the result of a genetic error. But what if instead of calling this anomaly an error, we saw the existence of creatures like the half blue, half green honey creeper as a mistake, but simply as evidence that sex can't be so narrowly defined. As the release states Spencer hopes, the novel discovery will inspire people to treasure exceptions as they always reveal something interesting. The notion that gender is what we feel while sex is what we're born with is a fairly common one in queer communities at this point. But as the green honey creeper bird shows us, the latter isn't so cut and dry. And we have always exposed the futility of attempting to categorize the endless possibilities of the natural world. In both birds and humans, there is no error, only infinite diversity in infinite combinations of the wild honey creeper in life. Good for the girly. Giving some competition to the penguins. Yes. So January is mental wellness. I know they changed the verbiage a little bit, which I think is a positive sign. Anne got this right, but half right. I was going to say, but of course I had a little trick to it. So when was homosexuality removed as a disorder? And the answer is not necessarily as simple as what we had previously thought. So looking at events, and again we want to highlight Diane Fitch's exhibit at the Highland Center in Greensboro. Typewriter's Doll houses dogs descendants. And this is running from January 6th. So it's already started until February 11th. And we will continue to promote it until the exhibit has closed. And the artist talk has been deferred by a week. Because of the snow. Yes. So it's going to be Saturday. Is that January 12th? I'm pretty sure. Yeah. This coming Saturday. Okay. Oh it would be after the before the show airs. Exactly. But I hope it was a wonderful talk. I bet it is. Our friends at Farks Market in East Montpellier have been thinking about Linda. Oh. And I know that because on Friday the 19th at 7 o'clock is queer poetry night. And you can just show up to share your poetry. But also on Friday, February 9th, also at 7 o'clock erotic poetry. Anonymous dirty love notes written by you on site. Mm. And then on Saturday, February 24th at 7 p.m. is another queer poetry night. So if the previous two didn't get you, we've got a third one. Saturday, January 27th, 8 p.m. at Babes in Bethel, queer dance party with DJ Dave. They must be doing good with those dance parties. They've been doing them fairly often. Well, but also we keep forgetting that first Friday is karaoke night. Yes. I'd like to do karaoke. You should hope I never walk in. All I'm saying. And then the fourth Sunday at 3 p.m. is their cribbage tournament. My parents played cribbage all the time when I was growing up. And again, on January 17th to the 21st is Stowe's LGBTQ Winter Pride Festival, Winter Rendezvous. And they were pictures of people luxuriating in hot tubs. And keep in mind that this is one of the House of the Lobes drag bingo events. Yes. Also on the 19th at higher ground is Drag Me to the Shore. This is being sponsored by Red Rum. And this is the New Jersey drag troupe coming up to show us how drag should be done. Oh, I'm just saying. There we are. And we have reported on Emma Mulvaney Stanek announcing their candidacy for Mayor of Burlington. Well, if you would like to show some support on Saturday, January 20th from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Venetian Soda Lounge, 266 Pine Street in Burlington. They're having a drag fundraiser. Dress as you will. So we're moving. Okay. There we are. Okay. And we have a couple of, well, they're all interesting stories, but we'll start off with authorities and journalists scrambled to uncover information about the shooter who opened fire in an Iowa school on Thursday. Far right figures zeroed in on the likelihood that the silent was an, was LGBTQ and once again suggested that queer people are more likely to pose a danger to others. Early Thursday morning, a 17 year old at Perry High School in Des Moines, Iowa, suburb of Perry, fatally shot a sixth grader and wounded five others before apparently killing himself. Officials said authorities identified the shooter as Dylan Butler and said he acted alone. They have not commented publicly about his sexuality or gender identity. However, screenshots from Buffalo's, from Butler's social media account have been taken down, but they appeared to display some LGBTQ symbolism, including rainbow and transgender flag emojis and an image of graffiti that says love your trans kids. Fire rights school media personalities and conservative provocateurs were quick to pounce on these revelations. This is the transgender terrorists who shoot up a school in Iowa today. The account lives for TikTok posted that same day on X where it has over 2.5 million followers. Trans extremists are a serious threat to the country. The media will bury this Donald Trump Jr. weighed in on the matter, reposing a different tweet for lives of TikTok that stated that the modern LGBTQ movement is radicalizing our youth into becoming violent extremists. Per capita, is there a more violent group of people anywhere in the world than radicalized trans activists? Trump basically wrote, given the tiny fraction of the population they make up, it doesn't seem like anyone else even comes close. If I may, the alt-right is saying this is a trans activist. Did you see the interviews with this young person's friends about the persistent, unrelenting and unresolved bullying and harassment to which they were subjected along with their sister? Somehow that seemed to have gotten lost in the alt-rights reporting. Yeah, why does that not surprise me? And also I'd add who cares what Donald Trump Jr. thinks. So your next story, and your next story is? A transgender woman said she was disqualified for running for a seat in the Iowa House of Representatives because she did not disclose her former name. Vanessa Joy, 42, a real estate photographer, had hoped to run as a Democrat and represent Ohio House District 50. That hope came to a premature end when she failed to include her former name or what's sometimes referred to as a dead name. The name as a trans person was given at birth and no longer uses after their gender transition. However, Ohio law requires people running for political office who have changed their name within the last five years to include their former names on candidate's petitions. The law exempts people who have changed their name because of marriage. Joy said she was unaware of the law until her disqualification. It's a barrier to entry from any trans and gender non-conforming people, Joy told NBC News on Thursday where I personally would have just bit the bullet and allowed my dead name to be on the petition and likely on the ballot for a lot of trans people. They don't want their dead names printed. It's a safety concern for many. Yes, that's so true. That law needs to be changed. In the move to protect marriage equality for gendered Democrats, a spearheading efforts to amend the state's constitution to abolish its ban on same-sex marriage, that this initiative aims to cement the legal status of same-sex marriage in Virginia, a right currently appellate by federal law, but contradicted by the state's constitution. Marsha Warfield, who's, do you remember Knight Court? Yes, I loved her. A character, Roz, has been revealed as gay in the reboot of the series. Says the portrayal wouldn't have been possible during the show's original run. The sitcom ran from 1984 to 1992 on NBC and the reboot began airing last year. Warfield, who came out as gay in 2017, guest starred as Roz in two episodes of the new series. And in the second, which aired Tuesday, it was revealed that Roz is engaged to a woman. And here is her picture and I'm sure we'll all remember Roz from the original series. Yeah. Okay. The far right talk show, Crosstalk, has come under fire for promoting extreme anti-LGBTQ views in recent recent episodes, as highlighted by Right Wing Watch, a watchdog site that monitors conservative extremists. On this episode, hosts Edward Zall and Lorraine Woodski along with guest Vincent Joy reminisced fondly about the time when they could discriminate against LGBTQ people was more acceptable. They miss it. Shal began the discussion with a statement reflecting on past attitudes toward children of gay parents. They used to be a day in age. We beat up the kids at school who had two dads, implying that such actions were socially accepted. James linked with white supremacist Nick Ferente's American First Organization added to the discussion, recalling when people suspected of being gay would often conceal their sexuality. Even the kids who we knew were obviously gay, who had the lisp, pretended not to be gay so that they wouldn't get bullied, who is Wilski, who is currently involved in a separate legal issue over anti-LGBT comments she made. Suppose these views suggesting a return to an error where LGBTQ individuals would hide their identities. That's how we kind of maintain the line. As far as behavior, I think they need to all go back in the closet when Wilski said. Too bad. It's going to be awfully crowded in there. And the judge began hearing arguments on Tuesday in the case of two Catholic parishes endeavor challenging the non-discrimination rules of Colorado. New 322 million universal preschool program. The parishes St. Mary's in Littleton and St. Bernadette in Lakewood along with the Archdiocese of Denver. Valdalaw sued in August in a federal district court. They're arguing centers on the conflict between the program's non-discrimination clause which prohibits discrimination on basis of religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity. And the mission to provide a Catholic education. Colorado Public Radio reports the state represented by its attorney contends that Catholic preschools are treated the same as other schools in the program and that some Catholic schools have signed similar non-discrimination agreements for other publicly funded programs. However, the group of Catholic preschools have chosen to op out of the program. Good. What do you think? That the Catholics are opting out? Yeah. They should just be thrown out. They should be thrown out. Yeah. And from my last story for now, we'll move on to Ann. An LGBTQ affirming church in Georgia was a victim of vandalism after a man was seen very aggressively tearing down a banner displayed in front of the church. And church leaders suspect the attacker was making a hateful homophobic statement with this act. The banner proclaimed a just world for all and was torn down by an unidentified man on Tuesday afternoon at the Virginia Highland Church in Atlanta. It was witness being torn down by a gentleman who tore it down very aggressively, clearly trying to make a statement. Fortunately, Virginia Highland Church pastor Matt Laney told local Fox affiliate the church is about 40% LGBTQ. And Laney said the vandalism might be the hateful result of the church's progressive and inclusive policies. While Christian churches in the Bible belt have a reputation for anti-LGBT capacity, Laney said the Virginia Highland Church is all about loving one another. So there you go. Okay, Ann, what you got for us? I have a trip to Australia. Uh-huh. In a film called Varungi. Let me tell you about it. Kaz Davis left his home in the small town, abandoning everyone and moved to Auckland to start his new life where he transitions. Years later, he returns to the town where he grew up for the first time as an out of trans man. He now must face the people whom he abandoned and start to rebuild those relationships. His father is upset with him for missing his mother's funeral and is also trying to process his transition from being his daughter to now being a trans man. Anna Hira, his best friend growing up, is now trying to reconnect with her Maori heritage and is also confused and hurt by his sudden decision to leave without saying goodbye. When he finally faces his ex-boyfriend, Jim, who had already made plans for the two of them to be together, he must explain his reasons for leaving him behind. Meanwhile, Jim is questioning his uncertain feelings because he is still attracted to Kaz, but unsure of its old feelings coming to the surface or whether he is now attracted to Kaz's masculinity. So now let's take a look at this film, Rolangi. Hey Jim. I'm sorry, do we know each other? Anna Hira. Yeah? I'm Gerald's kid, named Kaz now. Holy shit. Holy fuck, you came back? It's me, transgender, that's what it's called, that's me. Ten years you've been gone and now you want to talk. He's your mum, you tell her. Your dad's been on this big environmental crusade. The whole cycle of phosphates is letting the soil. It's time that us farmers took more responsibility for the harm that we do. It's really hard for me being here. It's hard for you. I'm trying to help you. You've been a man for five minutes. I've been a man my whole life. You just didn't see it. I think I get it. Gender, it's complicated. It's what I liked about you. You won't like the other girls. That's because I wasn't one. I think I'm making a difference and that I can change things. Do you know what just happened You needed a move. I thought this would be weird, but it's not. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Where can we see it? Hulu Disney plus ESPN plus. All right. Now I'd like to go to Israel. There are two stories I have that are kind of reflective of what's going on there, maybe. Let's look at a picture now of Michael Lucas who is a gay adult film producer and he's facing a boycott after signing a bomb to Gaza. So you see a picture of him and the bomb and he's facing intense backlash from industry professionals after bragging about writing his name on a missile to be dropped on Gaza. He took to social media last week to boast about how he asked to write my name on a bomb destined for Gaza, which the Israeli Defense Force is granted. Several adult entertainment stars have since vowed to boycott working with Lucas and his company over this reprehensible post. Anyone who thinks writing notes on missiles is some kind of sick flex is an accessory to murder and genocide of innocent Palestinian civilians in my book. An Iranian American film star wrote on what's formerly known as Twitter. The United Nations warned of the risk of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza two weeks after Israel declared war on Hamas in response to its October 7 attacks which killed 1,200 Israelis. Hamas took another 240 as hostages with more than 100 still captured. You probably all know this, but I'll review it. Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip has since killed over 22,000 Palestinians, more than 1.2 percent of the total population. Almost 2 million people have been displaced accounting for 90 percent of Gaza's population. The vast majority of the debt are women and children, according to Gaza's Ministry of Health and reported by NPR. I don't want to draw more attention to this post. I find it both saddening and reprehensible, said Kyle Overton, who goes by the stage name Sean Xavier. For those that are inquiring, I will no longer be promoting my work with Ed Studio nor accepting future offers to work with them. As the hashtags gained traction, Lucas lashed out at his critics telling the New York Post that the people trying to cancel me are nothing but vile anti-Semites. There is no explanation for such hate for Israelis and such support for people who would murder Jews and gays in the most barbaric ways, he said. I'm not intimidated by this and I won't delete the tweet no matter how many threats I continue to receive. Lucas did not point to what exactly in the posts from other adult entertainment stars he believes constitutes anti-Semitism. As we know, human rights activists and organizations such as the Human Rights Watch maintain that criticisms of Israel do not inherently equate to bias against Jewish people. Lucas introduced the gay adult film Man of Israel, which was the first major adult film to feature an entirely Jewish cast. His response to the recent backlash and some of his previous work since has been called pinkwashing, a term that people don't know. It seems pinkwashing is a common term I've known, but anyway it's a term that refers to the strategy of promoting LGBTQ rights as a way to distract from violence against other communities. The term is often to apply to Israel by activists as its government frequently promotes the country as a safe haven for LGBTQ people in the Middle East, despite same-sex marriage not being legal. Interfaith marriage is not legal also in Israel. Xavier called on those compelled to action by Lucas's post to donate to save the children a nonprofit that provides humanitarian aid to children affected by conflict and other disasters. And then in a follow-up or another story from Israel, the Israeli High Court rules that same-sex adoption must be allowed. So they issued this landmark decision. A court asserted that the 1981 adoption law was written to ensure children are adopted by two parent families, not specifically heterosexual couples, despite the use of words man and his wife. In a landmark decision, they ruled unanimously on Thursday that same-sex couples may adopt children under the terms of this 1981 adoption law. The court reinterpreted the law that read literally exclude same-sex couples, so they're keeping the man and his wife language, I guess. But the court asserts that the legislation's true intent was to ensure the good of the adopted child. It's been a seven-year fight. An ultra-orthodox and hard-line religious Zionist party denounced the ruling saying it undermined Jewish identity in Israel, was divisive, and hurts a large portion of the Jewish people. The court noted that it had dismissed previous appeals in 2017 because the government said that it would promise to take care of it and it didn't. So they did it. Do you have any stories that are a big must because we forgot to take out time for the clip? Oh, okay. Sure. You want me to just do my headlines? Yeah. And I have a lot of pictures too. My last story from Asia involves a gay Russian anchor journalist, Lobakov, who alleges, and I'm sure I believe him, Pavel Lobakov was beaten in an affluent downtown district of Moscow. So there's a picture of him. I have a lot of stories from Africa. First of all, a young and Ugandan activist suffers horrific wounds. And this is a suspected anti-LGBTQ knife attack. Let's look at a picture of him. Stephen Kobaye, and he's pictured next to a Uganda scene in Tebe, probably. He was in a park. He has a truth podcast that has been discontinued. Stigma against gay men could worsen in the Congo's biggest Mpox outbreak, scientists warn. And if you're penalized for being gay, you're not going to present yourself for vaccinations even if they had them. And there's a Burundi president who's, you know, I wrote his name down phonetically. So his name is Everestay Indashamaya, and he, reprehensibly, called for stoning of abominable gay couples. Gay people should be taken to the stadium and stoned to death. He has more to say, but we can skip that. Finally, my two stories from Europe involve the first involves a picture of Estonia. This is Mariella Tum on the left, and her girlfriend, Annika Ungkauf on the right. Same-sex couples are able to marry in Estonia from New Year's Day on. And Estonia is head of the Europe, is not head, is a member of the European Union. Well, I'm glad because I would have asked. Okay. And so lastly, and not very remarkably, Spain's Madrid region partially revokes trans and LGBTQ rights laws. So that's... Okay, Keith, what you got? Well, first the legislature is back. They've been back for a week. Things that I am currently following, there will be a vote on the House floor tomorrow, which will be the second reading of the bill. And this was a bill that was introduced by Taylor Small, and it's H72, harm reduction criminal justice response to drug use. This is the safe injection sites that Phil Scott vetoed the last time it had been passed. They're bringing it up again tomorrow. There's a lot of momentum, so we're going to be watching it. Also tomorrow, however, what we're going to be watching is the House Education Committee, because they're going to be briefed on the Vermont Christian Academy lawsuits. Remember our last show with a report on all of those suits that the Alliance Defending Freedom were putting forward? So it'll be interesting to see the advice they're given and who's in the room. So also, there's going to be a joint judiciary hearing on public safety and access to justice, thinking terms of racial equity, who is being represented by our judicial system, who is actually being targeted and penalized by it. This is going to be the first step in that process. And then on Friday, the House Education is going to hear from the Board of Education on what they consider to be the top issues and requests. So that's going to be interesting to see if they include bullying or response to the Christian lawsuits. The huge story right now is Isle of Mont, Sandy Bottom Farm, which again was vandalized. Someone stole their pride flag, which they have been displaying on an ongoing basis. This actually happened in 2022. But in addition to Sandy Bottom, other buildings that had pride flags had their pride flags stolen and burned. What's different this time is that they also vandalized the greenhouses. The insurance company is refusing to cover repairs. So there's been a GoFundMe that started to give the Sandy Bottom Farm the resources they need to repair the damage that was done. Sandy Bottom Farm says any money that's raised that isn't needed for repairs is going to be donated to outright for months. But the Isle of Mont. And this has happened in Isle of Mont before. This is not just an isolated incident. One of the things, and the New England organic farmers group has stepped up and said they're in full support of Sandy Bottom, their initiative. The owners of Sandy Bottom said that when they put the pride flag out, they knew that there would be people who wouldn't stop to purchase their vegetables and there would be some kind of response. This just shows that regardless of living in what we believe is a progressive state, hate is here and you have to deal with it. And there was a letter that was left by the perpetrator and they got an image of the perpetrator on camera and they're circulating. Do you recognize this person? Because it's obvious the perpetrator knows the area and maybe knows this couple. And the letter is outrageous. Fuck off with the gay shit. To us, the gay flag is disgusting like seeing a pile of dog shit. It's an abomination, a very small minority pushing their perverted agenda on the rest of us. Stop indoctrinating our children. And then they go on to say, and we don't hate the gays and we're not homophobic. Really? Sandy Bottom Farm says we're putting the pride flag back up. And this is their quote, I think as someone who's relatively privileged, the least I can do is hang a flag to support the people that I love. That's why we do it. Thank you. But there was also an incident in southern Vermont in Hartford, White River Junction. Did you hear about this? Yes. Yes. Emails that went out to, I'm going to get to the Barrett Center for the Arts Northern Stage Planned Parenthood with bomb threats saying it's going to happen now. They're going to detonate and oh me, oh my Northern Stage had a performance of drag story hour that had to be erupted. The building had to be evacuated. Police came in. They found nothing. The statement that drag story hour put out is today our story hour, a fundraiser to support youth creativity and community in White River Junction ended abruptly when a timed threat was called against us. Whoever did this caused harm to these families and stilled fear into the minds of young children and made them feel unwelcomed. We know that it is local. This could have originated anywhere. Keep in mind Vermont is a target and the Alliance Defending Freedom and the work that the alt-right is doing has made us that target. So we need allies and our elected officials to step up, name it when it happens and say this is not right. At the same time in Brattaburro they're encountering a pervasive problem with vandalism and hate imagery. Someone is going around defacing murals that are inclusive, positive with swastikas and they're doing them throughout town and I'm sorry I can't miss it. It's getting worse and worse. Well I can't miss the fact that Brattaburro is the hometown of our congressional representative Becca Ballant who has been very open about being both lesbian and Jewish. So kids get ready and sort of the backdrop to that the FBI periodically releases statistics and they're always one to two years behind. The most recent bias and hate crime statistics that they're releasing there was an increase of bias based upon the victim's sexual orientation by 13.8% based on gender identity by 32.9% and as Linda has reported frequently it's trans women of color who are being targeted more than another populations and Human Rights Campaign said that they believe this is a direct result of all of the rhetoric that is coming out of the alt-right and particularly presidential candidates at this point. So in our remaining time, in our remaining time a Virginia community is mourning the loss of a popular supporter of LGBT community Shelby Lex's Riddick Walker. A cherished activist and advocate was tragically killed in a head-on collision in Norfolk's downtown tunnel. Now here's a sort of good story. It's about time. I know I personally find that you know I adored my aunt and she was very supportive of me. I wasn't out or anything but you know as a kid. But anyway this talks about aunties and whether they're blood relatives or people who have chosen this role provide significant support for LGBTQ plus youth says a new research paper. That support is often both emotional and practical including housing of young people according to this paper. An open-face journal of the American Sociological Association. The paper looked at the role of these people and other mothers. A term common in the Black community for those who assist a birth or adoptive mother. In families in Southern California, Inland Empire and in South Texas which has not been the subject of extensive LGBTQ related study. The authors interviewed 83 young people in the summer of 2023 and they found that aunties were very important. You know it. You know. And someone here is really upset about the new version of the color purple. Really? Okay. The color purple was first published as we know in 1982. But Bozy Badass was still shocked over 40 years later to learn the story features the same sex relationship. The hip-hop icon is known to be anti-LGB. TQ was widely marked online after he complained about a gay love story in a recent release. I had to walk out of this color purple movie. He said I had two older couples walk out too because I had little girls with me. And it seemed like a rainbow emoji love story he wrote. Good acting. But whoever wrote this script is pushing the narrative hard. As a parent I will not let my little girl watch this crap. Did he miss the previous version with Whoopi Goldberg? Because I remember that kiss. But it didn't do as much as this movie does and it's more closely aligned to the narrative. And this is another good story which I think everybody will like and probably has heard of already but it's it's heartwarming. A drag queen in Texas received a heartwarming gift from one of her idols on Friday while performing at the club. Book ending a tumultuous year for the performer Bridget Bandit receiving a stunning and unexpected gift from Dolly Parton. A bejeweled guitar signed by the country music legend. Austin NBC affiliate reports the jester came at the end of a challenging year for Bandit who had been actively involved in a political effort against anti-drag and anti-trans legislation in Texas. The magical moment unfolded before an adoring crowd as Bandit who is based in Austin opened a box wrapped in a shiny pink paper. Insidely an acoustic guitar adored with white and pink rhinestones and a personal message from Parton 77. The jester came at the end of a challenging year for her and and she um anyway uh when she opened the box inside laid this guitar and the inscription said uh two Bridget love Dolly Parton and the message read completing the touch touching gesture from one queen to another. Oh I like that. That's great. Wasn't that a good story? Yeah um and then you know we have the ongoing story with the Zieglers. Yes he's finally out. I heard about this tonight. He's gone. He's been fired. Um so that's good news and then we have a couple of sad stories here about um Amber Miner a 40-year-old black transgender woman was shot to death in Raighton, Missouri. Um she lived nearby in Kansas City and was found in her driveway at 835. So um and Jean Bouchotte a 26-year-old Michigan transgender man was shot to death in an August in a police calling crime spree. Bouchotte was killed towards the end of his first day on a new job um so all sad news here for that and let's see we have uh the 81st Golden Globe Awards ceremony kicked off on Sunday with the dazzling red carpet featuring plenty of LGBTQ talent and beauty with so many queer films tv shows actors and musicians nominated in different categories our community is definitely being well represented in the ceremony between the cast of all of us strangers Niyad Rustin fellow travelers and the last of us to name a few we're getting lots of LGBTQ representation at the 2004 Golden Globes so on that note I think we should probably trivia trivia yes sorry so mental wellness month yeah the American Psychiatric Association in 1973 asked the members to vote on whether they believed homosexuality to be a mental health disorder 5854 voted to remove it 3810 voted to retain it and we believed for years that 1973 was the year it was removed however the American Psychiatric Association hit a compromise and put it back in as a sexual orientation disturbance for people with in conflict with their sexual orientation and it wasn't until 1987 that it was completely removed and I want you to remember a clockwork orange yeah the aversion therapy that is indeed what we were using in the us to treat what we believed gay men to cure them oh yeah and with that remember it's more than ever now we've got a lot of stuff coming up this year we have to be always on our toes and we have to resist