Politics, pop culture and entertainment news of interest to the LGBTQ community
Kiér Laprí Kartier, a 21-year-old Black transgender woman, was found shot dead in Arlington, Texas, on September 30. She is at least the 38th trans/gender non-conforming person to die of a violent death in the U.S. in 2021. Continue reading “Kiér Laprí Kartier, A Black Trans Woman, Shot Dead In Texas”
Some news items you might have missed:
• Pink News: Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg (above) has gone into quarantine for two weeks without his husband Chasten after a member of his security detail tested positive for COVID-19.
• C&C: At the end of HIV testing week last week, HIV advocacy group Terrance Higgins Trust revealed that they had seen more tests ordered in that week than ever before. The stats follow the news that AIDS drama It’s A Sin was Channel 4’s most-streamed TV show, ever.
• Revry: Continuing its month-long celebration of Black History Month, the LGBTQ streaming platform shares a block short films including the acclaimed Light in Dark Places (trailer below). “A mother makes a shocking discovery when she’s left to pack up her daughter’s house after a tragic car accident.”
• The Advocate: Two more Black transgender women have died by violence in the past couple of weeks, one in Louisiana and one in Florida.
• New York Times: President Biden will travel to Milwaukee on Tuesday to participate in a CNN town hall event to be moderated by Anderson Cooper, his first substantive trip outside of Washington since assuming office.
• CNN: Donald Trump was very unhappy with the opening argument made by his lawyer, Bruce Castor, on the Senate floor this afternoon. Trump was almost screaming as Castor made meandering arguments that struggled to get at the heart of his defense team’s argument, which is supposed to be over the constitutionality of holding a trial for a president no longer in office.
Some news items you might have missed:
• Gay Star News: A transgender woman is suing the Georgia Department of Corrections for failing to protect her from sexual assault after being assaulted 14 times in prison.
• Vanity Fair: The outgoing first daughter appears to be in extremely frantic damage control mode, attempting to prove, via tweets, that the Trump administration isn’t the worst collection of people in modern presidential history.
• Out Music: MTV’s Real World alum Davis Mallory (above) and American Idol’s Madeline Finn score with their uplifting new single “Faith.”
As the bells are ringing, choirs of angels singing
It is the end of days – Baby don’t let it shake your faith
• Pink News: A court in Hungary has requested a constitutional review of a chilling law that ended legal gender recognition for trans people, effectively erasing trans, non-binary and intersex folk from existence.
• Reuters: Mexico’s president is still so afraid of Donald Trump he won’t congratulate President-elect Joe Biden on his win.
• Wyoming Tribune: Wyoming’s anti-mask Republican Gov. Mark Gordon has tested positive for the coronavirus.
BREAKING—Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon tests positive for #COVID19.
➡️ 4 days ago: Same governor forgoes mask mandate. https://t.co/jzKGDNUGld pic.twitter.com/A8Qos08Lbz
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) November 25, 2020
In this week’s podcast:
• Two Supreme Court Justices made it clear they’d like to overturn marriage equality in the US
• A transgender woman was found shot to death in Puerto Rico making her the 6th trans person to die by violence in the territorty
• Charlie Carver, currently starring in Netflix’s The Boys in the Band says he came out as gay after a coworker slapped him for appearing gay in public
• Don’t miss the all-star benefit performance of The Great Work Begins: Scenes from Angels in America
• Drag Out the Vote has now unveiled a new voter initiative: Divas for Democracy: United We Slay, a digital variety show bringing together some of the biggest names in theater and drag
All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report
The National Black Justice Coalition reports that, in just the past week, at least 5 Black trans women were violently murdered.
• On Tuesday, June 30, Merci Mack, a 22-year-old in Dallas, Texas, was found murdered from an apparent gunshot wound to the head.
• In Louisiana, Draya McCarty was found killed in Baton Rogue, and Shakie Peters was found killed in Amite.
• Cameron Breon — also known as Bree Black — was also found shot in Pompano Beach, Florida on July 3, at just 27 years old.
• Social media has also reported that Tatiana Hall was murdered in Philadelphia, but little additional information has been made publicly available. These deaths — all in the last week — bring the number of trans people violently killed this year to 22.
Additionally, Brayla Stone was just 17 when she was murdered in late June. And two Black trans women in their twenties, Riah Milton and Dominique “Remmie” Fells, were also murdered in early June.
In response to this tragic news, Executive Director of the National Black Justice Coalition David J. Johns released the following statement:
“I dream of a world where we don’t have to wake up to see headlines of more of our sisters killed because of who they are and how they show up in the world. A world where the beautifully diverse contributions of Black trans women and girls are celebrated, not one where their lives are reduced to memes and hashtags. As we have marched in the streets for the past five weeks, and fought for our lives for the past 400 years, we must ensure that we are uplifting, supporting, and protecting our Black trans sisters too. For Black Lives to Matter, Black Trans Lives must Matter too.
“As we fight to overturn racist systems, we must fight to overturn the patriarchal systems that continue to perpetuate violence against Black women and girls, both Trans and Cis. Black women and girls have been leading the charge to fight police brutality and imagine a better future rooted in collective liberation. We must stand up and dream of a better world for them too. Merci, Draya, Shakie, Bree, and Tatiana mattered. Brayla, Riah, and Remmie mattered.
“We have to make space to talk, both publicly and privately, about the labor that Black women and girls invest to ensure that our families, community, and country are safe and supportive spaces in spite of anti-Blackness. We also have to talk about the violence they face from grown boys who also allow their pain and trauma to go undiscussed and untreated. As we call for justice for Black people, we must call for and work toward justice for all Black people.”
The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is America’s leading national civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and same gender loving (LGBTQ/SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS.
Some news items you might have missed:
• InstaHunks: Woofy Steve_in_LA (above) chilled with his bestie today. What a handsome dog…the canine is a looker, too. Follow Steve on Instagram here.
• Instinct Magazine: World of Wonder Productions, in partnership with The Stonewall Inn, will present a live-stream concert on Thursday, April 23rd at 8PM ET/ 5 PT, hosted by Michelle Visage and Tyler Oakley with proceeds from the event to benefit LGBTQ+ nightlife industry professionals affected by COVID-19. Among those scheduled to appear are Alan Cumming, Betty Who, Greyson Chance, John Cameron Mitchell, Kim Petras, Lorna Luft, Peppermint, Rufus Wainwright, Shoshana Bean, Todrick Hall, Troye Sivan, VINCINT and a special performance by Cyndi Lauper.
• NBC News: The crew for The Ellen DeGeneres Show is furious over lack of communication from the producers, a proposed pay cut during the coronavirus threat, and the hiring of a non-union tech company to help DeGeneres tape remotely from her home in California.
• Advocate: According to a new independent poll from Levada Center almost one in five (18 percent) of Russians believe that LGBTQ people should be “eliminated,” while 32 percent of Russians believe that gays and lesbians should be “isolated from society.” And that’s actually an improvement from past surveys.
• Pink News: A trans woman was stabbed 20 times and had her eye gouged out to ‘send a message’ to Colombia’s LGBT+ community, say local leaders.
• Politico: The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday reaffirmed its support for the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the goal of putting Donald Trump in the Oval Office. Tuesday’s bipartisan report, from a panel chaired by North Carolina Republican Richard Burr, undercuts Trump’s years of efforts to portray allegations of Kremlin assistance to his campaign as a “hoax,” driven by Democrats and a “deep state” embedded within the government bureaucracy.
• Out Music: LA-based indie artist Onsen releases the new song “Be There”, a track about the one that got away. Though the track is about lost love, it was written when the epiphany of desire occurred but before the letdown. As a result, it reflects on the relationship in a positive light.
Some news items you might have missed:
• InstaHunks: Handsome Ignacio Pérez Rey (above) sums up France: “Nice is NICE!” Follow the world traveler on Instagram here.
• LGBTQ Nation: A trans woman was shot at a gas station by a man shouting anti-trans epithets. But a judge ignored state law and ruled that it wasn’t a hate crime.
• KWWL: The Iowa Democratic Party announced the results of the limited-scope recount requests from the Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders campaigns. The recount process resulted in no change to the National Delegate allocation. Pete Buttigieg has 14 national delegates, Sanders has 12. As a result of the recount, county-level delegate allocation changed in 19 precincts.
• Out Music: Check out the new music video “Revival” from Broadway actor/singer Juwan Crawley (Aladdin). As a gay black man, Juwan started writing music as a response to the epidemic of police brutality towards and killings of innocent black Americans and has since used it as a platform for the values he holds dear. He continues to write music to express that which tethers us together: self-love, spirituality… and just f*cking fun.
• Gaily Grind: A disturbing cell phone video has been making the rounds on social media showing a Texas high school student viciously beating a transgender classmate.
• Pew Research: About two-thirds of Americans (66%) feel worn out by the amount of news there is, while far fewer (32%) say they like the amount of news they are getting, according to a survey of more than 12,000 U.S. adults conducted in October and November of last year.
• MSNBC: Democratic White House hopeful Mike Bloomberg tells Kasie Hunt in a new interview airing tomorrow morning on Morning Joe he intends to stay in the race “right to the bitter end.”
“I am going to stay right to the bitter end, as long as I have a chance,” @MikeBLoomberg tells @Kasie in an exclusive interview. “If Bernie Sanders were to get a majority, then of course not…you got to be in it to win it.”
WATCH the complete interview TOMORROW on @Morning_Joe pic.twitter.com/pZ57A18ZGX
— Kasie DC (@KasieDC) February 27, 2020
Some news items you might have missed:
• Tuesday Tutorial: Beefy Steve Raider (above) gives a lesson in fixing your socks. #SocksWhatSocks? Follow Steve on Instagram here.
• Mercury News: Fred Joseph Costanza, who viciously beat a homeless transgender woman for using the women’s restroom at an Oregon park fracturing her jaw and skull in several places, was found guilty of a hate crime and sentenced to six years in prison. He has also been ordered to pay the victim restitution for his attack.
• TikTok: Texas transgender teen Andi Bernabe was surprised on his 18th birthday by his high school classmates who raised the funds ($300) for him to legally change his name. His reaction to the gift has gone viral with millions of views.
@fluffiestboyI don’t deserve friends as good as mine🥺🥰 #birthday #trans #ftm #legaladult♬ original sound – fluffiestboy
• Virginia Mercury: Democrats walked off the floor of the House of Delegates Tuesday morning as the pastor invited to give the opening prayer delivered stinging remarks condemning abortion and gay marriage. A man who accompanied the pastor asked reporters if they were aware “sodomy” was once considered an offense worthy of capital punishment.
• Out: Though previous research had already shown considerably higher rates of suicidality among queer and trans young people, the latest data from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBS) revealed that LGB youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide compared to straight peers. What can you do? Research shows knowing just ONE accepting adult #WorkToDo
• The Guardian: Robyn Peoples, 26, and Sharni Edwards, 27, made history at a ceremony in a hotel in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, on Tuesday afternoon becoming the first same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. The day also marked their sixth anniversary as a couple.
Today we observe Transgender Day of Remembrance, which began in 1999 as a way to honor Rita Hester, a trans woman murdered inside her Boston apartment in 1998.
A vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester’s death and began an important tradition that has become the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Observed every November 20, the day is meant to honor the memory of those whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.
A new report released by Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide, from its Trans Murder Monitoring research project, reveals the latest numbers in the worldwide epidemic of violence against trans people.
The new data shows 331 reported murders of trans and nonbinary people occurred between October 1, 2018, and September 30 of this year.
TMM updated its report with this statement: “The majority of the murders occurred in Brazil (130), Mexico (63), and the United States (30) adding up to a total of 3314 reported cases in 74 countries worldwide between 1st of January 2008 and 30th of September 2019.”
“In the United States, the majority of the trans people reported murdered are trans women of colour and/or Native American trans women (85%), and in France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, which are the countries to which most trans and gender-diverse people from Africa and Central and South America migrate, 65% of the reported murder victims were migrant trans women.”
.@HRC is honoring #TDOR to add our voices to the urgent call to support our transgender and non-binary siblings.
Today we honor those who we have lost to fatal violence— the majority of whom were Black transgender women. #TDOR2019 https://t.co/aS5secn5a8 pic.twitter.com/ALENuH37Nx
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) November 20, 2019
Today we recognize Transgender Day of Remembrance. We mourn the losses of transgender people to violence that we are aware of this year, and recommit ourselves to working towards a safer and brighter future for everyone. #TDOR pic.twitter.com/2ttq8PpKPW
— The Democrats (@TheDemocrats) November 20, 2019
On this Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honor the memory of those we’ve lost—at least 22 trans and gender non-conforming people killed this year—and recommit to ridding this hate-filled violence from our society. Everyone deserves to live open and proud and free without fear.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 20, 2019
At least 22 transgender and gender non-conforming people have been killed in America this year. Tonight, I’m thinking of them and those whose deaths may never be reported. We must all commit to building a country where transgender Americans are safe, equal, and free. https://t.co/mUfDdBLWCD
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) November 20, 2019
In 2019, at least 22 transgender Americans—mostly Black trans women—have been targeted and murdered. We can never stop saying and remembering their names.
On Transgender Day of Remembrance, we must recommit to seeking justice for the lives taken and ending this epidemic. #TDOR
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) November 20, 2019
On Transgender Day of Remembrance, we #SayTheirNames, and we re-commit to ending this epidemic. #TDoR https://t.co/6mTLM2grTq
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) November 20, 2019
Hateful acts of anti-trans violence have claimed far too many lives—many whose names we’ll never know. Today we honor them. To those who continue to face discrimination & violence due to transphobia: I see you, I love you, & will never stop fighting for you. #TDoR2019
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) November 20, 2019
91% of murdered transgender people are Black trans women.
34% of Black trans women live in extreme poverty.
We need to alleviate their struggle to make ends meet—see their humanity— and take action to end the violence they face.#TransDayofRemembrance https://t.co/tQlBAha2qu
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) November 20, 2019
I would add a tweet from the president or the Republicans, but there weren’t any.
The Dallas Morning News reports that Edward Dominic Thomas, accused of brutally assaulting a transgender woman, was offered $200 to beat her.
The altercation took place between 5 and 6 p.m. on Friday at the Royal Crest Apartments in Dallas, Texas.
The victim, 23-year-old Muhlaysia Booker, told police she accidentally backed into another car in the parking lot of the apartment complex.
The driver of the vehicle, who has been named as a suspect but not yet arrested, admitted to running Booker “off the road to keep her from fleeing.”
The driver reportedly aimed a gun at Booker while demanding $200 for the vehicle damage.
As a crowd gathered, someone reportedly offered Thomas $200 to beat Booker, according to the police affidavit.
 |
| Edward Dominic Thomas (mugshot) |
In the video, Thomas punches the transgender woman over and over. At one point, two other men joined in kicking Booker.
Click below to watch the video. Warning – graphic violence:
The attack ended when several women picked Booker up, and transported her to UT Southwestern Medical Center where she was treated for a concussion, a fractured wrist and bruising.
Booker told the police she heard homophobic slurs during the attack.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Thomas has a record of previous convictions for family violence assault, burglary and unlawful carrying of a weapon.
Thomas was interviewed on Sunday by police, at which time he admitted to the assault but denied “saying anything derogatory.” He was charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. His bail was set at $75,000.
A spokesman for Dallas Police, Lt. Vincent Weddington, told the press authorities are looking into whether hate crime charges may apply to the incident.
Weddington also announced the police anticipate more arrests in the case.
“This case is certainly disturbing,” Weddington said. “The video, I’m sure, shocks the conscience of anyone who looks at this video. … This is being taken very seriously in our department.”
Mayor Mike Rawlings issued a statement about the assault via Twitter which read, “I am extremely angry about what appears to be mob violence against this woman. I am in contact with the chief and she assured me that the Dallas Police Department is fully investigating, including the possibility that this was a hate crime.”
Statement: Chief Hall alerted me this morning to the assault at the Royal Crest Apartments and I have seen a video of what happened. I am extremely angry about what appears to be mob violence against this woman. I am in contact with the chief and she… https://t.co/zlr5TN68Ic https://t.co/FvO9ALT13j— Mike Rawlings (@Mike_Rawlings) April 13, 2019