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Why do YOU oppose conversion therapy? Share your thoughts with us about the damaging and dangerous practice of so-called conversion therapy, which PFLAG National and PFLAGers across the country are working to end. We need you to be part of the process by raising your PFLAG voice!

Support the #LAVGrads of 2020! On Saturday, May 23rd, Campus Pride and PFLAG National will host a virtual national Lavender Graduation for the LGBTQ+ and ally Class of 2020 to celebrate and honor their achievements. This free, live streaming event to celebrate #LAVGrads will begin airing at 3pm ET/12pm PT. Watch at CampusPride.org/2020, across Campus Pride’ social media channels, or on the PFLAG National Facebook page. Join us to help bring #PFLAGPride parent, family, and ally support to our #LAVGrads!

COURT MATTERS

SCOTUS leans toward new religious carve-outs in LGBTQ+-related case. The Supreme Court seems poised to grant religious schools an expanded ministerial exemption in employment decisions based on oral arguments heard about two religious schools seeking immunity on May 11th in litigation that could have significant bearing on LGBTQ+ teachers at these institutions.

Zara reaches settlement with nonbinary transgender shopper over alleged discrimination. Zara, an international clothing retailer, reached a settlement with a nonbinary transgender customer who reported multiple experiences of discrimination in Zara’s New York City stores. The customer said that they hope the lawsuit will raise awareness about transgender discrimination in public spaces. Zara will pay the shopper $30,000 and institute restorative justice measures to prevent future discrimination in its stores.

Aimee Stephens, transgender woman at center of major Supreme Court civil rights case, dies at 59. Our condolences go to her wife and friends. Her case will continue as we all stay tuned to SCOTUSblog for Decision Day on the three Title VII workplace discrimination cases before the Supreme Court. Brian Bond is quoted in the NPR story linked above.

South Carolina couple files lawsuit in federal court against HHS. On May 8th, Rogers v The United States Department of Health and Human Services was filed in federal district court of South Carolina alleging various constitutional violations based on the sexual orientation and religion of Eden Rogers and Brandy Welch. This resulted in their inability to serve as foster parents through a private child placement agency Miracle Hill Ministries.

FEDERAL MATTERS

U.S. House expected to vote on Speaker Pelosi's HEROES Act for COVID-19 support today, May 15th. The 1,800+-page $3 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, H.R. 6800, addresses COVID-19 emergency aid, including support for Medicaid and Medicare recipients, first responders, healthcare workers, and local, state, tribal, and territorial governments so that they can relieve suffering of their residents and families. It features a temporary rule to permit the House remote voting for 45 days (which can be renewed) and includes LGBTQ+ people and their families. The news release includes links to a one-page overview and other materials. PFLAG National participated in preparing this bill.

HHS publishes final rule stripping LGBTQ+ and tribal adoption and foster care data collection. On May 12th, during National Foster Care Month and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published its final rule to adoption and foster care system (AFCARS) removing LGBTQ+ and Indian Child Welfare Act data elements from the AFCARS data collection system.

Normal speech sprays droplets that may spread COVID-19, according to the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. In a report filed on May 13th in its proceedings, the Academy estimates that one minute of loud speaking could generate more than 1,000 virus-containing droplets that would remain airborne for at least eight minutes. Separately, the magazine Science reported on May 13th that scientists found twin antibodies that neutralize COVID-19, each by slightly different mechanisms.

Legislators from the U.S. House and Senate unite to support LGBTQ+ inclusion in the U.S. government’s international response to COVID-19. The lawmakers led by Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) urged the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development to protect LGBTQ human rights overseas during the coronavirus crisis in a bicameral letter dated May 7th. PFLAG National participated in the organizational recommendations for the legislators.

STATE MATTERS

Maryland - Montgomery County school board approves LGBTQ studies course. The Montgomery County Board of Education on Tuesday unanimously approved the development of a one-semester LGBTQ studies pilot course. Two high schools intend to offer it next spring, while eight others plan to offer it during the 2021-2022 school year.

Pennsylvania - State to include LGBTQ info in COVID-19 data collection. Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine is openly transgender and PFLAG National expresses #Respect4Rachel for her decision, despite backlash she faces.

Puerto Rico - Two Puerto Rican men charged under federal hate crimes law for murder of two transgender women. The men are accused of murdering two transgender women on April 21 and are the first two people in Puerto Rico ever charged under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

Texas - LGBTQ+ community mourns the loss of a transgender woman fatally stabbed after being choked unconscious in a San Antonio barbershop. Helle Jae O’Regan was helping two other employees prepare for the shop’s post-COVID-19 reopening on May 8th before being assaulted and killed while the other two people escaped. She is the 11th openly transgender person murdered in 2020.

GLOBAL MATTERS

Australia - Sydney police arrest man suspected of killing a gay American university student in 1988. Thanks to the persistence of a loving brother continuously asking police to reopen and further investigate the death of his brother Scott Johnson, a university PhD student, the case was finally reversed from being ruled a death by suicide to murder, and the suspect is now in custody.

Colombia - Study finds that one-third of transgender people have undergone some form of conversion therapy. The Williams Institute at UCLA and the Colombian Collective Project conducted a survey of 4,900, reportedly making it the largest and most comprehensive of its kind conducted on LGBTQ+ people in the South American country.

Hungary - EU urged to take action as Hungary’s government moves to end legal recognition of trans people. The European Union is being urged to take action against a proposed law in Hungary that would define gender as biological sex and prevent an individual from legally changing their gender. Human rights activists believe that the law, if passed, would be in violation of European human rights case law and would result in high levels of discrimination towards the transgender community.

MEDIA MATTERS

LGBTQ Americans are getting coronavirus, losing jobs; anti-LGBTQ bias is making it worse. The coronavirus outbreak is hitting LGBTQ+ people living in America hard, especially those of color, leaving a population already vulnerable to health care and employment discrimination suffering from high job losses and a growing rate of positive cases.

London Fashion Week to become gender-neutral. The British Fashion Council has announced that for the next 12 months, all London Fashion Weeks will occur in a single, gender-neutral platform. This is the first time in the biannual event’s 37 year history that shows would not be separated between mens and womenswear.

COVID-19 strains LGBTQ+ health clinics. Many of the over 200 LGBTQ+ clinics across the United States are struggling to survive during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nearly 13% of LGBTQ+ Americans receive their regular health care from one of these clinics and any clinic closures could result in significant gaps of LGBTQ+-competent care in the United States.

Melissa Ethridge's 21-year-old son Beckett Cypher died, related to opioid addiction. “Today I joined the hundreds of thousands of families who lost a loved one to opioid addiction,” Ethridge wrote about losing her son with ex-partner Julie Cypher. “My heart is broken; … we struggle with what else we could have done to save him, and in the end we know he is out of pain now,” Ethridge continued. Her frequent home online concerts during COVID-19 are suspended, but she said she will sing again because it always heals her.

Lesbian couple changes wedding venue to a drive-in movie theater with guests in their cars. Bri and Lindsey Leaverton planned to wed in a mansion on April 10th, but then the COVID-19 pandemic came. They and their kids found a way to keep their friends and themselves safe, flatten the curve and create an inventive way to say “I do” on April 28th, trading their wedding heels for boots in Texas, thanks to an idea from their wedding planner.

Entertainment Weekly’s LGBTQ issue celebrates new storytellers, enduring icons, and Hollywood history. EW teams with illustrator Jack Hughes to create a totally different kind of cover, paying tribute to the central role LGBTQ artists have had in Hollywood from its very beginnings. The cover was not without some controversy and backlash, as shared in this piece, talking about folks responding to the inclusion of Ellen DeGeneres and RuPaul.

Inside the new LGBTQ-affirming church in New York's Chinatown. Grace Alive Fellowship gives queer youth an alternative to many of the conservative, evangelical Chinese churches they grew up in. Its leaders, Pastor May Lee, a seminarian, and Manni Lee, see their progressive posture toward LGBTQ+ folks not as the defining element of their church but rather as part of what it means to be connected to one's community.

Washington Blade's Michael Lavers has video chat with Yariel Valdés González, Blade contributor detained by ICE who later won asylum. PFLAG friend and international editor Lavers explores the case with this Cuban who won asylum in the U.S. case after being detained for a year by ICE.