National & World Briefs
LA fire leadership
When in doubt, blaming the lesbian is apparently Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ way of deflecting responsibility for the fires that devastated LA in January. Los Angeles Fire Dept. Chief Kristin Crowley, an out lesbian, was canned. The mayor claimed she was “acting in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety.” She says the chief didn’t warn her of the possibility of devastating fires that have historically hit LA during the Winter Santa Ana wind storms. She says if she had known about the possibility of these storms, which hit with some regularly in Southern California, she wouldn’t have gone to Africa the day before the fire started. The National Weather Service and other media outlets had been reporting on the possibility of dangerous fires almost a week prior to the mayor going to Ghana. She also said the chief had sent home 1000 firefighters the morning the fires started.
Mayor Pete out in Michigan
Using the time-honored trope of “wanting to spend more time with his family,” former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has taken himself out of the running for the Michigan Senate seat vacated by Sen. Gary Peters’ retirement. Saying he is “p*ssed off” about the current president’s “slash-and-burn” policies, he says he wants to take this “opportunity to mobilize Americans” against current policies. He does leave the door open to a run for president in 2028. He did leave the family home as he went on a media tour recently. In one recent week, he appeared on “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert, hosted a Bluesky ask-me-anything, and had an Instagram chat with veterans’ advocate Paul Rieckhoff. This leaves the Michigan senate race for the Democratic nomination to the State Attorney General Dana Nessel, a practicing lesbian, and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist. Right now, Sappho leads Hetero in the polls.
Newsom TERFs legislation
California Governor Gavin Newsom has made two moves that signal a run for the U. S. Presidency. First, he has started a blog to allow him to opine for three hours at a time and move away from some progressive stands. In an attempt to appeal to the “Bro vote,” his first guests were conservative figures Charlie Kirk, just released from prison, and Steve Bannon. He told Kirk that he agreed with Kirk’s statements about transgender people in sports. He thinks their declared gender instead of the birth certificate gender was an issue of fairness and “men should not compete with women in women’s sports.” Second, he has told aides not to support the introduction of pro-LGBTQ+ legislation. He specifically referred to transgender health care and sports participation issues. Members of the California Legislature’s LGBTQ Caucus ignored the directive and proposed a flurry of bills addressing LGBTQ issues anyway. Newsom’s bona fides as an LGBTQ ally are pretty solid. Over 20 years ago, as San Francisco mayor, he gave marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and he was one of the most prominent Democrats to take early pro-LGBT positions.
HIV Prevention, one shot, annually
British researchers are in field trials to prove the efficacy of an annual shot to protect against HIV infection. The first “safety trial” was a success. Lenacapavir tests now move to phase two. The trial consisted of 40 people without HIV receiving a shot. No major side effects or safety concerns were recorded, and after 56 weeks, the medicine was still detectable in their bodies. The HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust said, “PrEP as a daily pill has been a game-changer in our HIV response. The prospect of ‘safe’ annual injectable PrEP is as exciting as it is transformational. It’s great to see these early results that suggest injectable PrEP might be effective for up to 12 months.” Around 40 million people are living with HIV, 65 percent of them in Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
Kennedy Center crowd jeers VP
The current U.S. vice president was booed rather heartily upon arriving at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in D.C. to hear a National Symphony Orchestra concert. He is a “culture warrior,” and was not warmly received by an audience composed of those he generally makes war on. This caused the new president of the Kennedy Center and the current president’s go-to gay guy, Ric Grenell, to throw a hissy fit at KCPA staff. In a memo to staff, he wrote of receiving messages from staffers who were embarrassed by the booing. ”As the premier arts organization, we must work to make the Kennedy Center a place where everyone is welcomed.” Though being welcoming is not a hallmark of the current administration’s many policies, he continued his policy contradiction by championing diversity and inclusion, “As president, I take diversity and inclusion very seriously.” Words for which he can be fired or at least “DOGEed” out of the job.
North Dakota marriage equality battle
North Dakota is the ninth state where legislators have considered a request to the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider the Obergefell decision granting marriage equality. It is also the ninth state legislature where such a measure failed. The state senate voted down the resolution, previously passed by the N. D. House, in a 16-31 vote after only ten minutes of debate. As in the state of Utah, North Dakota voters did approve a constitutional amendment many years ago defining marriage as a “union of a man and a woman.” That language, as in Utah, remains in the state constitution. Supposedly, marriage equality is protected nationally by the Federal Respect for Marriage Act, passed in 2022.
RIP: Alan Simpson
In a better time for the republic, Sen. Alan Simpson was way ahead of his Republican party when it came to LGBT rights and marriage equality. He died of age-related causes in February 2025. He represented Wyoming for 32 years in the House and Senate and was in leadership in the Senate Republican Caucus for 10 years in the 1980s and 90s. He was the Senate sponsor of immigration reform and supported environmental causes. In 2001, he became the honorary chairman of the Republican Unity Coalition, a gay-straight alliance within the Republican Party, which stopped operating in 2008. He recruited high-profile Republicans, like former President Gerald Ford, to serve on the RUC advisory board. In a “60 Minutes” interview on CBS network. he criticized Republicans, which he called “the get the government out of your life Party,” as hypocritical on the notion of interfering in the private lives of individuals by opposing marriage equality and antidiscrimination favoring gays and lesbians. He received the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom at age 95 in 2022
RIP: Felice Picano
Men of a certain age will remember Felice Picano’s groundbreaking book, “The Joy of Gay Sex.” He recently died at age 81. Picano’s 30 works included novels such as “The Lure,” “Onyx,” “Like People in History,” and “The Book of Lies,” plus memoirs, poetry, nonfiction, and plays. He was co-founder of the “Violet Quill,” a collective of gay writers. He established “SeaHorse Press” and “The Gay Presses of New York,” which were publishing LGBT authors.
RIP: Britain’s oldest drag performer
David Raven, who performed in drag as “Maisie Trollette,” has died in Brighton, England, at age 91. He was the United Kingdom’s oldest drag performer. “Trollette” was a fixture on seaside Brighton’s drag scene for over five decades. As “Trolette,” Raven performed at the first “Brighton Pride” in 1973. Brighton is a long-time tourist and entertainment mecca on the Southern Coast of England. Raven was born in the 1930s near what became his place of work, Brighton. His career as a drag performer began as a duo in “The Trollettes with Jimmy Court,” who performed in London. The name was derived when a wag noted the two looked like a pair of “Trolls.” The duo was famed for putting on shows where “anything goes.” London’s Royal Vauxhall Tavern, the site of many “Maisie Trollette” performances, described the character as a “doyenne of drag” who had a “life well lived” and wished Raven to “Rest easy, dear.”
