Tag: California

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News Round-Up: January 28, 2020

Jeff Ferreira (via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Woofy Jeff Ferreira (above), standing in Times Square, “Kiss me, use me! Today I will be all yours!” #HoldMyBeer You can follow Jeff on Instagram here. • MetroWeekly: A pastor and right-wing broadcaster who was recently granted press credentials by the White House has claimed that the coronavirus was sent by God to “purge” LGBTQ people. • Advocate: Thanks to public outcry by queer Los Angelenos, the L.A. LGBT Center will not be losing its funding to offer free tests for HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea, and chlamydia. On Monday, the center was informed its resources were scheduled to be cut – but queens will rise up. • Super Bowl: Rupaul’s Drag Race alums Kim Chi and Miz Cracker are featured in a new commercial for Sabra hummus scheduled for the big game on February 2.

• Instinct Magazine: Porn star Armond Rizzo took to his social media after being approached by an adult studio that reportedly pays performers in the bottom bunk less than their co-stars. Armond was not having it: “It’s just unjust you pay bottoms less, and for that I decline working for you!” • Washington Blade: The Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday voted 63-34 to repeal the state’s statutory same-sex marriage ban. House Bill 1490, introduced by state Del. Nancy Guy (D-Virginia Beach), would officially repeal Virginia’s prohibition the U.S. Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional in its 2015 ruling in the Obergefell case. • LA Times: Sen. Bernie Sanders has taken a significant lead – 6 points over Sen. Elizabeth Warren in number two spot – in the Democratic primary race in California. Under state Democratic Party’s rules, delegates go to candidates who get at least 15% of the vote statewide or in a congressional district.

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Trump Tells NY & CA He’ll Help With Homelessness If They Ask “Politely”

Donald Trump

Donald Trump took to Twitter today to rant about the issue of homelessness in America. Well, not exactly. The Trumpster tweeted specifically about the homelessness problem in two very blue states: California and New York. Trump wrote, “California and New York must do something about their TREMENDOUS Homeless problems. They are setting records! If their Governors can’t handle the situation, which they should be able to do very easily, they must call and ‘politely’ ask for help. Would be so easy with competence!” It’s worth noting, however, that a Rockefeller Institute of Government study this year found that New York’s residents and businesses consistently send more revenue to the Federal government than any other state, and the state continues to contribute more in taxes than the state receives back in federal spending. And residents of California pay one of the highest rates of federal taxes per capita in the country. As president, states shouldn’t have to beg or “politely” ask for help. That’s what the federal government is there for, and what they pay taxes for. And in the case of these two states, a LOT of taxes. Trump forgets that he’s not a king whose ring should be kissed. He’s an employee of the people of the United States. The Donald’s real issue here isn’t worrying about the homeless (which he’d rather just not see), but the fact that California and New York have governors who won’t bow down to him. Later in the day, Trump took another swipe at New York tweeting, “So sad to see that New York City and State are falling apart. All they want to do is investigate to make me hate them even more than I should. Governor Cuomo has lost control, and lost his mind. Very bad for the homeless and all!”

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High School Agrees To Settlement After Deleting Seniors’ Pro-LGBTQ Yearbook Quotes

Mikayla Garaffa and Steven Madrid (image via ACLU)

After a student adviser removed pro-LGBTQ quotes from two graduating seniors at Minarets High School in Northern California from the high school yearbook, the ACLU stepped in on behalf of the two students.

According to a press release from the ACLU, a settlement has been reached that aims to affirm students’ rights and free speech.

The ACLU initially filed suit in March on behalf of two then-Minarets High School seniors, Steven Madrid and Mikayla Garaffa. Their pro-LGBTQ yearbook quotes were removed from their senior yearbook by an adult adviser who wrongly deemed them “political” and “sexual” in nature. Under the settlement agreement, the District agreed to ensure that teachers are trained in the current law requiring schools to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for LGBTQ students. The District also agreed to: • Create an anonymous online complaint system so students can report campus bullying and harassment • Train all District staff about the free speech rights of students • Review relevant policies to ensure their compliance with state law banning discrimination against LGBTQ students • And add language to the parent-teacher handbook affirming students’ rights to be free from discrimination in school-sponsored activities

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California Makes PrEP Available Without Prescription

California becomes the first state in the nation to make HIV prevention pills available without a doctor’s prior authorization. From the AP:

Pharmacists in California will be able to dispense HIV prevention pills to patients without a doctor’s prescription after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Monday that supporters say will greatly reduce the spread of infection.

PrEP is a once-daily pill for HIV-negative people while PEP is a medication that people take to prevent the virus from taking hold. Supporters say PEP significantly reduces the risk of infection, but only if started within 72 hours of exposure to the virus.

Nearly 30,000 people in California use PrEP and 6,000 use PEP, according to the California Health Benefits Review Program, which provides analysis to the Legislature.

The California Medical Association was initially opposed to the legislation but became neutral on it after it was amended to limit the number of PrEP pills patients can get without a physician’s note to 60 days, said Anthony York, spokesman for the association.

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California: PrEP And PEP Could Become Available Without Prescription

California lawmakers are working to make PrEP and PEP available as over-the-counter drugs without a prescription, reports Capital Public Radio.

California lawmakers are working to make PrEP and PEP available as over-the-counter drugs without a prescription, reports Capital Public Radio.

PrEP, pre-exposure prophylaxis, is the once-a-day treatment using Truvada that has been proven to be more than 90% effective in preventing HIV infection.

PEP, post-exposure prophylaxis, is prescribed to patients who have experienced possible exposure to HIV. Taken within 72 hours of exposure, the 28-day course of HIV medications is meant to stave off infection before the virus can take hold in the patient’s system.

Both PrEP and PEP currently require a prescription from a physician. Often, a patient’s insurance company has to sign off on the prescription before coverage kicks in.

California state Sen. Scott Weiner of San Francisco wants to change that. He is the lead author of Senate Bill 159.

The legislation would authorize pharmacists to provide PrEP and PEP without a prescription, much like birth control pills are currently available in the Golden State.

Under SB 159, Patients would have to be tested for HIV within the seven day period before buying the medication, and pharmacists would have to notify a patient’s primary physician as well as counsel the patient on side effects.

The measure passed in the state Senate in May by a vote of 34-1, and it is now working its way through the state Assembly where Assemblymember Todd Gloria is sponsoring the bill.

Equality California has made the bill a top priority. Additionally, the legislation is supported by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, APLA Health, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, and the California Pharmacists Association.

But the California Medical Association wants to see changes made before the bill becomes law.

Specifically, the CMA wants the PrEP component removed from the bill, and only supports allowing a portion of PEP to be dispensed by a pharmacist before a doctor would prescribe the remaining treatment.

The CMA points to possible drug interactions as well as complications with kidney or liver functions that could occur if dispensed without regular checkups and screening.

In a letter to lawmakers, Morgan Carvajal, legislative advocate for the CMA’s Center for Government Relations, wrote, “Prescribing a daily, long-term use, medication of strong HIV regimen drugs to healthy, HIV-negative patients demands a high degree of safety and consideration that is only achieved safely by the patient-physician relationship.”

There’s no word as yet regarding pricing of the medications under SB 159.

(source: Capital Public Radio)

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California Governor Will Sign Legislation Requiring Tax Returns For Presidential & Gubernatorial Candidates

Donald Trump

Journalist Yashar Ali reports that Gov. Gavin Newsom of California will sign a recently passed bill that will require presidential and gubernatorial candidates to submit five years of tax returns in order to be on a primary ballot.

The bill, known as SB-27, passed the California Assembly and Senate earlier this month. The law would require candidates for U.S. president and California governor to submit their five most recent years of tax returns, with sensitive information like Social Security numbers redacted. The state would then publish those returns for the public to review. If a candidate for either of those offices refused to submit their returns, they would not be listed on the primary ballot.

This is unquestionably a bill directed toward and inspired by President Donald Trump’s refusal to release copies of his tax returns. When Newsom signs the bill today, California will become the first state to require such a disclosure by law.

All of the major Democratic presidential candidates have released years’ worth of tax returns, and when Newsom ran for governor in 2018, he allowed reporters to review six years of his tax returns.

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News Round-Up: July 12, 2019

• InstaHunk Max Souza (above) is a study in gorgeous contrast between that gorgeous skin, the blue ocean and his whiter-than-white swimsuit. #Brazil

Some news items you might have missed:

• InstaHunk Max Souza (above) is a study in gorgeous contrast between that gorgeous skin, the blue ocean and his whiter-than-white swimsuit. #Brazil

• Washingtonian: A bisexual man, frustrated he couldn’t donate blood, decided to donate a kidney in protest. Current FDA policy bans men who have sex with men from donating blood (but not organs) unless they are refrain from same-sex intimacy for a year.

• Sacramento Bee: California lawmakers have approved a bill that will require presidential candidates to provide five years of tax returns in order to appear on the primary ballot. Gov. Gavin Newsome, who provided six years of his own tax returns for his 2018 gubernatorial race, is expected to sign the bill into law.

• Washington Post: The U.S. House voted Friday to prevent Donald Trump from launching into war with Iran without first getting the approval of Congress. More than two dozen Republicans joined Democrats to include the provision, which includes an exception for cases of self-defense, in the House’s annual defense authorization bill.

• IndyStar: Gay high school teacher, fired for being in a same-sex marriage, sues Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

• TGIF: Groove into the weekend with Dinah Jane and her ‘tell-off’ video, “Heard It All Before.” The R&B diva recently brought her talent and sass to St. Louis PrideFest as well as the BET Awards Experience. DJ

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California Town Denies Request To Fly Rainbow Flag At City Hall

You might think the city of Dublin, California, would be pretty inclusive in regard to LGBTQ issues being just 35 miles east of San Francisco.

But at a City Council meeting Tuesday night, a request for flying the LGBTQ rainbow flag at City Hall for Pride month was voted down, according to local Fox affiliate KTVU.

Shawn Kumagi, the first openly gay member of the city council, filed the request for flying the flag as well as issuing a proclamation for Pride month.

The proclamation was unanimously approved by the five-member panel, but the response from some citizens about the rainbow flag surprised many.

One resident attending the council meeting asked, “If you agree to fly the rainbow flag, can we fly the Confederate flag, the Black Lives Matter flag, a Communist flag?”

Another Dublinite, Mike Grant, owns the Guns Unlimited firearms store in town. He brought his NRA flag to the meeting insisting if the rainbow flag gets time at City Hall, so should his flag.

“I’ve been discriminated against for 41 years as a federal firearms dealer by the Democrats,” said Grant. “They don’t like guns. I’m in the same group as they are.”

Mike Grant (screen capture)

One resident opposed the idea because they said they had heard of plans to add a “P” – for ‘pedophile’ – to the LGBTQ acronym. And another objected since LGBTQ doesn’t have an “S” for ‘straight.’

Jeannine Sullivan, a member of the local LGBTQ community for 20 years in Dublin, told the San Francisco Chronicle, “It was ridiculous and unfounded, but it still shows what is being perpetuated by some people in our community.”

And Dublin resident Maria Ceremello said she felt “angry” about the comments.

“I came out of there steaming, swearing,” she told KTVU. “It’s unreal people are against this when it’s just a flag flying for a month. It’s not right.”

Kumagi amended his request to flying the rainbow flag for just one day, but even that was voted down.

“Of course I find it disappointing,” said Kumagi. “But I think it is a testament that, even in the Bay Area, we still need to have this conversation.”

Pride supporters are reportedly organizing a grassroots campaign via social media to encourage citizens fly their own rainbow flags at their homes for Pride month.

(Source: KTVU, SF Chronicle)

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Public Debate Of LGBTQ Legislation Can Lead To Rise In Homophobic Bullying

A new study shows that public debate over LGBTQ laws can lead to an increase in homophobic bullying.

A new study shows that public debate over LGBTQ laws can lead to an increase in homophobic bullying.

Scientists at the University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University and Columbia University collaborated on the study published in the medical journal Pediatrics on Monday.

The researchers crunched data that included survey results from almost five million middle and high school students in the state of California from 2001 to 2015.

Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage via state constitutional amendment, was approved by Golden State voters 52% – 47% in November 2008. It was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013.

The scientists looking at the survey results found that as the debate around Prop 8 began to heat up in 2008, incidents of homophobic bullying among young people began to spike.

During the 2008/2009 school year, homophobic bullying increased 10.8 percent. In the same time period, bullying related to ethnicity, race, religion or gender declined.

Stephen Russell, senior author of the study, told local NBC News affiliate KXAN, “We think that young people don’t hear what adults and lawmakers are talking about, but they do.”

Russell, who has studied the health of LGBTQ young people for nearly 20 years, points out that incidents of homophobic bullying actually exceeded the estimated number of students believed to be LGBTQ at the time.

“The data are telling us that straight kids are getting bullied for this, too,” said Russell. “It’s all about what the bullies perceive.”

The rate of anti-gay bullying began to decline in California after debate on Prop 8 subsided, and has continued to decrease every year since that time.

The study found that rates of homophobic bullying were lower at schools where there was a Gay/Straight Alliances on campus.

The data indicated that anti-gay bullying was below 10 percent at schools with a GSA versus nearly 13 percent on campuses without a GSA.

(image via Depositphotos)

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California DMV Denies ‘LTHR DDY’ License Plate For “Depravity”

We tend to think of California as being pretty liberal when it comes to perceptions of social culture.

Which is why San Francisco resident Robert Haynes was shocked when his request for a vanity license plate for his motorcycle that would read “LTHR DDY” (shorthand for ‘leather daddy’) was rejected by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

According to The Bay Area Reporter, the rejection letter Haynes received from the DMV referred to the phrase’s “sexual connotation” and that some might read it as “a term of lust or depravity.”

Depravity???

“I understood when I submitted this the term could be controversial, but for it to be a lustful or depraved reference is missing the scope of leather culture,” Haynes told the Bay Area Reporter. “And it is kind of endemic of how people take leather culture from the outside and immediately relate it to sexual as being exclusive to the entire lifestyle.”

Robert Haynes (photo credit: Charles Moniz)

Haynes tells the Bay Area Reporter he’s not super-involved with the leather community, although he did participate in the International Mr. Leather contest in 2011. The 38-year-old does think of himself as a leather daddy, and wears leather apparel when he takes his motorcycle out for rides.

Haynes went to the state senator who represents San Francisco, Scott Wiener, with his plight.

Wiener reportedly fired off a letter to the DMV denouncing the language used in the rejection and demanded Haynes’ vanity plate be approved.

“I was really floored that a California agency would boil the whole concept of leather daddy down to depravity or lust,” said Wiener. “Being part of the leather community is about so much more than sexuality. It is about diversity, freedom, and people being who they are.”

Mind you, just last week the city of San Francisco approved a new park that will commemorate the leather community.

And each year thousands flock to the city for the annual Folsom Street Fair, which celebrates the leather and BDSM communities.

In a letter to former acting DMV Director Bill Davidson, Wiener highlighted the many facets of the LGBTQ community which has always been a voice for “individual self-expression and diversity.”

The DMV has informed the state senator they have received his letter and are “in the process of drafting a reply at this time.”

Robert Haynes (courtesy of Robert Haynes)

For his part, Haynes has refused to cash the $50 refund check he received from the DMV, and hopes the plate arrives in time for this year’s AIDS/LifeCycle ride in June.

Haynes has taken part in the annual San Francisco AIDS Foundation/Los Angeles LGBT Center charity event six times, and will participate for the second time as part of the Moto Safety crew that protects and assists the bicyclists.