In Ohio, Dayton-based insurance company CareSource is donating $1 million to United Church Homes to support the development of a senior living facility at the site of the former Longfellow School that will also aim at being intentionally welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community, The Dayton Daily News reported. The Longfellow Commons Community will be the first of its kind in Dayton and the fourth in the nation aimed at welcoming individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ as well as allies. The facility will include 126 units for those 55 and older.
Almost 250 congregations within the United Methodist Church in North Carolina were approved recently to leave the church over disagreements regarding LGBTQ+ clergy and marriage within the church, WITN reported. The North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church gathered for a special called annual conference at Methodist University in Fayetteville. According to the church, the 249 disaffiliating churches represent 32% of the congregations in the conference and around 22 percent of the membership.
A Nov. 27 march to remember the 44th anniversary of the assassinations of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone also honored the five people killed at a gay nightclub in Colorado, KRON4 reported. Milk—one of this country's first openly gay elected officials—was gunned down in his office by former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White on Nov. 27, 1978, after having been in office less than a year. White also killed Moscone, who was succeeded by Dianne Feinstein.
The Georgia Supreme Court reinstated the state's ban on abortions after approximately six weeks of pregnancy—abruptly ending access to later abortions that had resumed days earlier, NPR reported. Attorneys and advocates who pushed to overturn the ban said the abrupt halt will traumatize individuals who must now arrange travel to other states for an abortion or keep their pregnancies.
Gay dating app Grindr's stock rose by more than 400% after going public on Nov. 18, NPR noted. The self-described "leading platform focused on the LGBTQ+ community" announced its intention to become a public company back in March. The app announced its successful merger with Tiga Acquisition Corp.; Grindr Inc. debuted on the New York Stock Exchange that same day under the symbols "GRND" and "GRND.WS." Grindr, which launched in 2009, reported roughly 11 million daily users per day last year.
Julius' Bar—one of New York's oldest gay bars, which played a pivotal role in advancing the rights of gay New Yorkers—is on track for landmark status, ABC 7 New York reported. The bar, which has been in business since the 1860s, is full of other neatly preserved historical items. "In 1966, we had something called the sip-in," Julius' Bar manager Nick Gabriellini said. "Where the state liquor authority didn't allow homosexuals to be served alcohol if they were openly gay. So, they staged the sip-in here, and there was a lawsuit."
Also in New York City, the NYPD arrested a suspect who they believe repeatedly caused damage to the Midtown gay bar Vers by throwing bricks through the venue's window, The Villager noted. Manhattan resident Sean Kuilan, 34, was arrested on Nov. 22. He was charged with three counts of criminal mischief, three counts of reckless endangerment and three counts of criminal possession of a weapon.
Aaron Franklin Brink—the father of Anderson Lee Aldrich, the suspect in the Colorado Springs mass shooting that occurred at LGBTQ+ bar Club Q—had a homophobic reaction upon hearing news that Aldrich allegedly killed five people, according to Complex. Brink told CBS 8, "And then I go on to find out it's a gay bar … I said, 'God, is he gay?' I got scared, 'Shit, is he gay?' And he's not gay, so I said, 'Phhhewww…'" Brink—an alleged former MMA fighter and porn actor—went on to make several anti-LGBTQ+ remarks during the interview, suggesting he was morally opposed to homosexuality because of his faith. In a court filing, Aldrich's attorney said the suspected shooter identifies as "non-binary" and uses they/them pronouns.
On Nov. 17, Superior Court Judge James A. Cromwell sentenced a 46-year-old D.C. man to 14 months in jail (32 months of incarceration with 18 months suspended) after he pled guilty in September to assault for attacking lesbian activist Aiyi'nah Ford at a restaurant on Aug. 3, The Washington Blade reported. Donnell Anthony Peterson allegedly knocked Ford to the floor at the Player's Lounge restaurant and repeatedly called her a "dyke bitch" after the two argued over the city's violence-interruption program.
Documents filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia show that U.S. homeland-security officers and the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department arrested LGBTQ+-rights activist Lane Hudson on Aug. 11, 2021, on charges of possession with the intent to distribute illegal drugs, The Washington Blade reported. The affidavit says the officers discovered and seized illegal narcotics that were field tested and weighed and which included "1,096.4 grams of a mixture and substance containing Methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance; 29.5 grams of a mixture and substance containing Heroin, a Schedule I controlled substance; and 322.974 fluid ounces of a mixture and substance containing Gamma Butyrolactone ('GBL'), a Schedule I controlled substance."
In Texas, the anti-LGBTQ+ group This Is Texas Freedom Force is planning to show up to a Christmas drag show in San Antonio, calling on fellow "grass root patriots" to join them, MySanAntonio.com reported. The group posted a video announcing its plans to protest outside of the Aztec Theatre on Dec. 13 for the "A Drag Queen Christmas." The protest comes at a time where far-right politicians and media figures are spreading false claims that queer and transgender people are trying to groom children in schools and through drag shows.
Park View—a documentary on one of the most horrific murders in Wilmington, North Carolina history—was recently shown at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington's McNeil Hall, WECT noted. In 1990, 32-year-old lesbian Talana Kreeger met her killer, truck driver Ronald Thomas, in a lesbian bar called the Park View Grill. Investigators believe the two got into an argument over homosexuality that ended in Kreeger's murder. This showing was the first of a series of screenings of the film at universities across the state. Producer Tab Ballis said the goal of the screenings is to influence lawmakers to enact hate-crime protections for LGBTQ+ citizens in North Carolina and 16 other states without such legislation.
The Denver Rescue Mission will remove language that bans employees from "acting on same-sex attraction" and "rejecting of one's biological sex," Denverite reported. The mission currently holds an $8.7 million contract with the City of Denver's Department of Housing Stability, which bans discrimination regarding sexual orientation and gender identity. Civil rights experts said the handbook could be in violation of city contracts as well as state and federal law.
In Texas, it turned out that a group of 10 Arlington ministers urged Mayor Jim Ross and city council to skip LGBTQ Pride Month displays in public libraries, KERA reported. The email, sent Aug. 24 to city council members, asked for "dialogue" between faith leaders concerned that the June Pride Month displays, which stood at library branches in June 2021, do not align with "family values." On Oct. 27, the Arlington Public Library Advisory Board approved policies that would restrict Pride Month displays to young adult and adult sections as well as create permanently standing LGBTQ+ sections for all age ranges.
