TAKE ACTION

JOIN US: The #PoorPeoplesCampaign LGBTQ+ Collective: Pre-March Town Hall and Pride Celebration. Tomorrow, June 13th at 3 p.m. ET, join us for the #PoorPeoplesCampaign LGBTQ+ Collective: Pre-March Town Hall and Pride Celebration, which PFLAG National sponsors. Join Black LGBTQ+ and other leaders including Rev. Dr. William Barber II, HRC President and CEO Alphonso David, and Minneapolis City Council VP Andrea Jenkins as we collectively honor our legacy of resistance to ensure that LGBTQ+ voices are lifted up in the movement for protections for poor and low-income people across this nation. RSVP at https://fcsj.salsalabs.org/lgbtq_collective_town_hall/index.html.

Also, mark your calendar for June 20th, when the Poor People’s Campaign will hold the largest digital and social media gathering of poor and low-income people, moral and religious leaders, advocates, and people of conscience in this nation’s history.

TAKE ACTION: #HonorThemWithAction. Today, as we mark the fourth anniversary of the massacre at Pulse, we’re asking you to honor the 49 victims by making a plan to vote. Register to get your ballot by mail. Sign up to volunteer. Get educated on the issues. And when the time comes – VOTE. We’re proud to partner with our friends at Equality Florida on this national campaign to ensure that the lasting memorial of Pulse massacre is the real change of uprooting discrimination and bias-based violence of all kinds.

REMINDER: Recognize Juneteenth on June 19th, the unofficial holiday marking the abolition of slavery in the US.

COURT MATTERS

Several states backed a suit against Title IX rule alterations. After the Secretary of Education’s May 6th announcement of the altered Title IX rules, several state attorneys general, including those from California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, filed suit, viewing them as threats to the safety of sexual assault and harassment victims.

FEDERAL MATTERS

Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) spearheads legislation to confront law enforcement misconduct. Along with165 colleagues, including the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Speaker Pelosi and other Leadership, she introduced HR 7120 on June 8th.

House Judiciary Committee holds hearing on racial justice and police reform. Witnesses at the hearing held on June 10th, included surviving family members such as the brother of George Floyd and civil rights organizations’ leaders.

USAID’s top official defended two appointees with anti-LGBTQ+ records. The top official for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) defended two recent appointees in the Trump Administration who have garnered attention for their positions on LGBTQ+ issues. Merritt Corrigan, USAID’s new White House liaison, wrote that the United States is in the midst of a “homo-empire” which pushes a “tyrannical LGBT agenda”. Another appointee, Bethany Kozma, wrote in 2016 that transgender girls were actually boys “claiming gender confusion.”

The Library of Congress Recognizes LGBTQ+ Pride. As the largest single repository of world knowledge in a single place, the LOC once again recognizes LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June and lifts up some of its offerings, reminding communities of its commitment to make its vast collection accessible to all.

STATE MATTERS

Florida - Jacksonville City Council restores previously struck down LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination law. On June 9th, Jacksonville council members voted to pass a replacement law reinstating protections against LGBTQ+ discrimination after the policy was declared unenforceable by an appeals court on May 1st this year. PFLAG Jacksonville was instrumental in securing this accomplishment alongside local partners.

Georgia - Election fiasco in Georgia creates many obstacles for voters. On June 9th, Georgia voters encountered fewer polling stations, too few paper ballots, and up to seven-hour-long lines in predominantly minority communities. These instances of voter suppression, along with other problems such as no training to operate new polling machines, call for action to prevent such hindrances with future elections.

Kansas - Roeland Park City Council votes to ban conversion therapy for minors. The city is the first in Kansas to implement any kind of conversion therapy ban. The measure passed on Monday without opposition in the city council.

Minnesota - Transgender woman attacked by mob in St. Paul. Iyanna Dior, a 21-year-old Black trans woman, was beaten by a group of cisgender people outside of a convenience store on Tuesday, June 2nd after being involved in a car accident.

Puerto Rico - Governor signs news civil code eliminating LGBTQ+ protections. Gov. Wanda Vázquez’s new civil code includes 130 amendments that overhaul many rights, including LGBTQ+ rights, removing transgender people’s ability to correct name or gender markers on birth certificates, and erasing explicit inclusion sexual orientation or gender identity in discrimination prohibitions.

Tennessee - Judge rules that Tennessee must provide absentee ballots to all eligible voters on request. Judge Ellen Hobbs Lyle of the Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville ruled on June 4th that the state must give all eligible voters the option to vote by mail in upcoming elections because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Secretary of State’s office plan calls for social distancing and sanitary measures. The ruling is expected to be appealed before the state’s primary on August 6th.

West Virginia - Rosemary Ketchum elected as first openly transgender official of WV. Elected to City Council of Wheeling, West Virginia on Tuesday, June 9th, Ketchum represents one of the 27 out trans officials in the United States and will assume office on July 1st. During her time in office, she plans to focus on the area’s issues of poverty, homelessness and substance abuse.

Wisconsin - Gov. Tony Evers calls for the rainbow flag to fly outside the state capitol for all of June. This is an act of visibility and solidarity with the U.S. embassies defying the President’s order not to fly the rainbow flag on their buildings.

GLOBAL MATTERS

Canada - Police presence at Vancouver Pride barred in solidarity with Black Lives Matter movement. This decision aligns with the history of Pride as a protest against police brutalizing Black trans and gender-nonconforming people.

Nigeria - Women Against Rape in Nigeria (WARN) petitions government for greater protections against sexual assault. After the assaults and deaths of two women last month, WARN urges the government to consider releasing publicly accessible lists of sexual offenders.

Poland - President of Poland vows to ban LGBTQ+ teaching in schools. In campaigning for the upcoming presidential election, President Andrzej Duda makes a promise to his supporters that education on LGBTQ+ matters would not be present in schools under his presidency, while additionally stating he would not allow gay couples to marry or adopt.

Russia - LGBTQ+ activist charged for posting ‘disturbing’ images on social media. Yulia Tsvetkova, 27, faces up to six years in jail after posting her artwork of embroidered vulvas on social media in efforts to spread messages of body positivity.

MEDIA MATTERS

Two more Black trans women are reported murdered (t/w both stories: violence/murder). Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells of Philadelphia and Riah Milton of Liberty Township, Ohio are the latest victims of violence against Black trans women. PFLAG National is outraged at the deaths of two more trans women of color, as well as at the misgendering of these women in the media reports of their murders.

Transgender model Munroe Bergdorf rehired at L’Oreal after being fired in 2017 for calling out racism. Previously making history in L’Oreal UK’s campaign as the brand’s first transgender model, Bergdorf was fired shortly after for her comment on white supremacy. However in the wake of the Black Lives Matter Movement, she has been rehired as a member of the company’s new U.K. Diversity & Inclusion Advisory Board.

Pose star Indya Moore gathers support for trans women of color. Raising more than $20,000 since the start of the pandemic, Moore plans to use the donations towards providing food, rent, and gender-affirming care for trans women of color, given their disproportionate vulnerability to the effects of the virus. Watch them in season 2 of Pose, out on Netflix now.

Openly trans secretary of health leads Pennsylvania through pandemic. Dr. Rachel Levine is used to being under the spotlight as a trailblazer for trans women in the medical field, but now more than ever she is using her platform to educate about LGBTQ+ individuals as she protects the state from COVID-19.

Gender nonconforming poet and performer Alok Vaid-Menon publishes Beyond the Gender Binary. Their book details their experiences as a transfeminine child in an Indian-American community in a small town in Texas. They donated 5,400 copies to LGBTQ+ youth in states passing anti-trans legislation, encouraging readers to see gender not in black and white, but in full color.

Prism Fellowship grants one LGBTQ+ student a Wharton School MBA. The first recipient, Colan Wang ‘22, embodies the fund’s requirement to demonstrate a commitment to the betterment of the LGBTQ+ community.

Harry Potter stars defend trans people against J.K. Rowling. On June 6, Rowling once again went on the attack against people of trans identity, this time mocking inclusive language for periods in a tweet; she later released a long essay trying to explain her position on trans identity. Daniel Radcliffe, who played Potter in the film series, released a statement expressing his disappointment in Rowling while affirming his support for trans people, and other stars from the film series followed suit.