Something as simple as walking down the street can become a much more tense moment if you are LGBTQ+, or a person of color.

Because of this, new California data about anti-LGBTQ+ attacks — along with hateful acts against diverse, religious groups — being on the rise is “not surprising,” said Khloe Rios-Wyatt, president and CEO of Alianza Translatinx. The Orange County-based nonprofit supports and provides resources for transgender and gender non-conforming communities.

“There isn’t a lot of support or funding, specifically going towards trans communities of color (who) are most impacted by hate crimes,” Rios-Wyatt said.

New research from the state Department of Justice (DOJ), released annually since 1995, shows that while overall hate crimes across the state were down in 2023, compared to the previous year, reported hate specifically against LGBTQ+, Jewish and Muslim communities rose last year.

Also, while hate crimes against Black Californians went down, that community continues to be the highest reported of any group, consistent with past years’ numbers.

Reported hate crime events decreased 7.1%, from 2,120 in 2022 to 1,970 in 2023, according to the 2023 Hate Crime Report. Still, “too many continue to be unacceptably targeted by hate,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta in a news release.

Across Southern California, many diverse community members struggle to find help, while the organizations that serve them continue their fight against hate, and to make reporting resources known.

Among the key findings from the 2023 California Hate Crime Report include:

• The overall number of reported hate crime events in the state decreased from 2,474 in 2022 to 2,303 last year.
• Despite a decline from previous years, Blacks were the most commonly targeted racial group in 2023, with 518 reported incidents.
• Anti-Jewish bias rose 52.9%, from 189 in 2022 to 289 in 2023.
• Attacks against Muslim groups rose from 25 in 2022 to 40 in 2023.
• Hate against the LGBTQ+ community increased 86.4% last year, from 81 in 2022 to 151 in 2023.
• Anti-transgender bias rose 10.2%, from 59 in 2022 to 65 to 2023.
• From 2022 to 2023, the number of hate crimes referred for prosecution increased from 647 in 2022 to 679 in 2023.

Race-related hate crimes were the highest reported, at 1,017, with nearly half (518) of reported incidents being against Black people. This was followed by sexual orientation-based hate crimes, which rose from 391 in 2022 to 405 last year.

Notably, hate against Asians — who were frequently targeted during the COVID-19 pandemic — fell between 2022 and 2023, a drop of 10.71% from 140 in 2022 to 125 last year, the report showed.

Religiously-motivated hate crimes rose 30% from 303 in 2022 to 394 in 2023. After the surprise attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas last Oct. 7, which officials said saw hundreds taken captive into Gaza, the ensuing Israeli attacks sparked by the assault have killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, officials said.

As a result, attitudes toward Jewish and Muslim residents have overall suffered, the DOJ report alleges.

Anti-Jewish bias events rose from 189 in 2022, to 289 in 2023 — an increase of 52.9% — while Islamophobia rose from 25 in 2022 to 40 last year.

Leaders from the California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA), a national Muslim advocacy organization, found the report consistent with its own studies of growing Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian bias since the Israel-Hamas war began.

In 2023, CAIR-CA’s civil rights department received over 700 intakes, with 150 alleging Islamophobic, anti-Palestinian, and anti-Arab hate crimes and incidents, officials said, with some reports of physical and verbal attacks, harassment and doxxing. Overall support for a free Palestine was among the record number of complaints to their office.

“We know that hate crimes and hate incidents targeting our communities are underreported, and these numbers do not fully capture the extent of Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hate our community faces,” said CAIR-LA legal director Amr Shabaik, in a statement. “The report clearly shows that much more work needs to be done to address hate against vulnerable communities in California, starting with the commitment from our elected officials to the safety and well-being of their Muslim, Palestinian and Arab constituents.”

With more reports of local, sometimes violent clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine groups, leaders from Jewish community organizations expressed growing antisemitism concerns that could go beyond the war.

Richard Marcus, president and board of directors for Jewish Long Beach, said the new report “makes clear — we have a long way to go.”

“Hate crime reporting is critical, but it only considers twice-verified criminal acts.  It does not consider the creation of spaces inhospitable to Jewish life and daily incidents where students are denigrated or harassed in schools, workers find their rights to express their religious identity taken away, and managers and personnel committees fear hiring, promoting, or even retaining Jewish workers,” Marcus said. “As longstanding bridge-builders, we find no space for hate.”

Violent crimes, such as aggravated assault and intimidation, were among the most commonly reported to the California DOJ — at 1,477 incidents in 2023.

To tie in with the report’s release, Attorney General Bonta issued an updated bulletin to law enforcement agencies throughout the state, with a revised summary of laws targeting hate crimes and hate-motivated acts.

“An attack against one of us is an attack against all of us — there is no place for hate in California. Everyone has a part to play as we continue to fight prejudice and create safer communities,” Bonta said in a video message. “These are more than just statistics on a page, each data point represents real people hurt by hate. We know these numbers only tell part of the story.”

Hate by county

The number of hate crimes and incidents across Southern California last year varied by county, according to the DOJ’s report, which doesn’t go into specifics about the types of hate crimes.

Overall, 91 hate crime events were reported in Orange County in 2023. The highest were in Santa Ana — which has a large population of Latinx people — at 17 incidents, followed by Irvine, with 14.

San Bernardino County, the geographically largest in California, reported 28 hate crime events in 2023, a number that could be inconclusive, officials said. The county Sheriff’s Department was listed as one of the agencies unable to report the full year of data due to issues such as records management or staffing.

Rialto reported six events, followed by Redlands and Chino, which both reported four events.

Riverside County, meanwhile, revealed 35 hate crimes last year, with the highest in Palm Springs (11) and Riverside (9).

Los Angeles County — which according to Census data has the highest population in California, with over 10 million people — reported the most hate crimes in the state, a record 664 last year.

Almost 60% — 397 — occurred in the city of Los Angeles. The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department reported 44 hate crimes. Long Beach reported 31 events.

Brian Levin, former head of Cal State San Bernardino’s Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism and a retired professor of criminal justice, said that the state’s data prompts “a lengthy cautionary notation,” with some agencies — like the Riverside County Sheriff, he called out — barely reporting.

“When final local numbers are available, California actually will have significantly more hate crime totals than those found in the report, and is also likely to mitigate or erase this initial reported overall decline,” Levin said by email.

But he said that the state’s most recent findings reveal a “generally consistent” rise in anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish, anti-LGBTQ and anti-Latino hate crimes.

“We need to establish more resilient  community partnerships and better reporting from both victims and local agencies.”

As underreporting continues, local groups step up 

Leaders say hate crimes and attacks, that often go wildly underreported, are usually shared within local circles rather than to law enforcement.

Among some factors that contribute to underreporting include language barriers, mistrust of police, tense relations between officers and vulnerable communities, lack of knowledge of how or where to report hate, agencies not prioritizing hate crime reporting, and more, organizers said.

Khloe Rios-Wyatt, of Orange County’s Alianza Translatinx, said that many trans people of color are not taken as seriously when they do seek out help.

“There’s a fear of going out and reaching out for help because police officers are not very receptive,” she said. “A lot of community members have (said) that when they go and report things to police officers, they usually don’t pay attention to what they have to say, or they dismiss them. Sometimes, they don’t even file the report.”

Rios-Wyatt is hopeful that research from the DOJ’s 2023 Hate Crime Report will be able to garner more support and visibility for those who need it, especially LGBTQ+ people of color.

For many local organizers, one way of helping is through free or low-cost, in-language and accessible programming to communities.

Many of these organizations are building programs, such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice Southern California’s ongoing bystander intervention trainings, which are offered virtually and in-person in different Asian languages.

CEO Connie Chung Joe said that though the numbers year by year may fluctuate, hate is “still happening” to Asian American and immigrant communities, “especially amongst those with limited English proficiency.” The state report’s data shows that geopolitical issues in other countries impacts people in the U.S., as seen with the rise of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim biases. She expressed fears that specifically anti-Asian hate could rise again in the U.S..

“Law enforcement at all levels needs to ensure language accessibility and cultural sensitivities to ensure that community members feel safe reaching out for help,” said Chung Joe. “We have a team of advocates who can offer free help in eight Asian languages.”

Other organizations, like the San Gabriel Valley LGBTQ+ Center, are combating hate through programming and community outreach. Leaders are part of the Equality California “Stop the Hate” campaign, and are working with the California Department of Public Health on a needs assessment specifically for the LGBTQ+ community, said Camila Camaleón, the SGV center’s president and board of directors.

“Every queer and trans person involved, whether a board member, volunteer or participant, has personal experience with bias, among other issues (like) workplace discrimination, verbal and physical intimidation, and unfortunately sometimes outright violence,” Camaleón said. “Our presence both online and in the community sends a clear message that hate has no place here.”

Other local efforts — such as the “CA vs. Hate” program — hope to combat rising attacks through mental health resources and statewide events that educate residents on why reporting matters.

Kevin Kish — director of the California Civil Rights Department, which launched the statewide anti-hate campaign in 2023 to focus on hard-to-reach communities — applauded efforts like a recent statewide Pride tour and billboard campaign, “to make sure people know they are not alone.”

“While it’s encouraging to see a reported decrease in overall hate crimes, the increase in hate… shows that there is more work to be done,” Kish said.

Any victim or witness to a hate incident or crime in California can report incidents online at CAvsHate.org, by calling (833) 866-4283, or 833-8-NO-HATE; Monday through Friday from 9:00 am – 6:00 pm. People can also call the 211 hotline for support in more than 200 languages.

L.A. County’s confidential 211 hotline and LA vs. Hate program allows anyone to report, find resources and support. Those in Orange County can report online or through the county’s confidential hotline, 714-480-6580.

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TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The first publicly known cases have emerged of Russian authorities penalizing people under a court ruling that outlawed LGBTQ+ activism as extremism, Russian media and rights groups have reported, with at least three people who displayed rainbow-colored items receiving jail time or fines.

The Supreme Court ruling in November banned what the government called the LGBTQ+ “movement” operating in Russia and labeled it as an extremist organization. The ruling was part of a crackdown on LGBTQ+ people in the increasingly conservative country where “traditional family values” have become a cornerstone of President Vladimir Putin’s 24-year rule.

Russian laws prohibit public displays of symbols of extremist organizations, and LGBTQ+ rights advocates have warned that those displaying rainbow-colored flags or other items might be targeted by the authorities.

On Monday, a court in Saratov, a city 730 kilometers (453 miles) southeast of Moscow, handed a 1,500-ruble (roughly $16) fine to artist and photographer Inna Mosina over several Instagram posts depicting rainbow flags, Russia’s independent news site Mediazona reported. The case contained the full text of the Supreme Court ruling, which named a rainbow flag the “international” symbol of the LGBTQ+ “movement.”

Mosina and her defense team maintained her innocence, according to the reports. Mosina said the posts were published before the ruling, at a time when rainbow flags were not regarded by authorities as extremist, and her lawyer argued that a police report about her alleged wrongdoing was filed before the ruling took force. The court ordered her to pay the fine nonetheless.

Last week, a court in Nizhny Novgorod, some 400 kilometers (248 miles) east of Moscow, ordered Anastasia Yershova to serve five days in jail on the same charge for wearing rainbow-colored earrings in public, Mediazona reported. In Volgograd, 900 kilometers (559 miles) south of Moscow, a court fined a man 1,000 rubles (about $11) for allegedly posting a rainbow flag on social media, local court officials reported Thursday, identifying the man only as Artyom P.

The crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights in Putin’s Russia has persisted for more than a decade.

In 2013, the Kremlin adopted the first legislation restricting LGBTQ+ rights, known as the “gay propaganda” law, banning any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors. In 2020, constitutional reforms pushed through by Putin to extend his rule by two more terms included a provision to outlaw same-sex marriage.

After sending troops into Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin ramped up a campaign against what it called the West’s “degrading” influence, in what rights advocates saw as an attempt to legitimize the war. That year, the authorities adopted a law banning propaganda of “nontraditional sexual relations” among adults, effectively outlawing any public endorsement of LGBTQ+ people.

Another law passed in 2023 prohibited gender transitioning procedures and gender-affirming care for transgender people. The legislation prohibited “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records. It also amended Russia’s Family Code by listing gender change as a reason to annul a marriage and adding those “who had changed gender” to a list of people who can’t become foster or adoptive parents.

“Do we really want to have here, in our country, in Russia, ‘Parent No. 1, No. 2, No. 3’ instead of ‘mom’ and ‘dad?’” Putin said in September 2022. “Do we really want perversions that lead to degradation and extinction to be imposed in our schools from the primary grades?”

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Over the summer, when a Southern California school board opposed a new state-determined social studies curriculum that included a bio of slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a threatening tweet calling out the school board president by name. “This isn’t Texas or Florida. In the Golden State, our kids have the freedom to learn,” Newsom tweeted. “Congrats Mr. Komrosky you have our attention. Stay tuned.”

Newsom followed up the vague warning with a far more tangible one. In a subsequent statement, the governor labeled the board’s reluctance to accept the curricula an act of “hate” and announced a $1.5 million fine for what he described as a “willful violation of the law.” He also threatened a lawsuit and a state Justice Department civil rights investigation. “Demagogues who whitewash history, censor books, and perpetuate prejudice must never succeed,” Newsom added. “Hate doesn’t belong in our classrooms, and because of the board’s majority’s antics, Temecula has a civil rights investigation to answer for.” Komrosky and other members of the school board for the Temecula Valley Unified School District were concerned about Milk’s well-documented relationship with a 16-year-old boy when he was in his 30s.

He and other board members labeled Milk a “pedophile” and didn’t want his bio included in a supplemental curriculum for certain grade levels. After Newsom’s threat of legal action, the school board began to waver. Komrosky called an emergency Friday meeting that stretched late into the night and partially backed down, agreeing to accept the textbooks but putting off a decision on the 4th-grade lessons on civil rights, including the gay rights movement, until the board and parents could review it further.

The confrontation spurred weeks of headlines, with members of the LGBTQ+ community praising the governor’s actions while parents’ rights groups bemoaned the top-down threats from the highest level of state government.

The Democrat-controlled state legislature last month passed a bill that would legalize hefty state fines for school boards that reject state-determined curricula and other state policies. The state attorney general also sued a different school district in Chino for requiring parents to be notified when their children begin identifying as a different gender in California public schools. In mid-October, a judge sided, at least temporarily, with the state, and granted a preliminary injunction against the parent notification policy until he makes a final decision.

Over the last several months, the school board clashes have fueled a series of protests and rallies at the state Capitol in which parents, students, pastors, and school board members have accused the Newsom administration and the state legislature of keeping secrets from parents and undermining their ability to care for and oversee their children. On the other side of the debate are Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, and members of the LGBTQ+ community who argue that the school boards are trying to ban textbooks teaching diversity.

They also assert that students in the state public elementary schools who are changing their gender have a right to privacy from their parents who could try to stop them from transitioning – or worse – use physical force as punishment for doing so. Amid the furor on both sides of the school board controversies, in late August, Newsom announced the latest round of grants to support an effort to combat hate crimes against transgender, Muslim, and black people after the attorney general’s office found a 20% increase in such crimes across the state in 2022.

Among the taxpayer-funded grants is $630,000 to Equality California, an LGBTQ+ group fighting alongside Thurmond against school boards’ parental notification policies and their ability to object to diversity-oriented curricula. Over the last four years, the state has provided $400 million in federal grants to fund security measures for faith-based organizations and other nonprofits, and $196 million in grants to local organizations focused on preventing hate crimes and supporting survivors.

The funding is taking place as the state is running a $31.5 billion budget deficit, up from $22.5 billion projected in January. The state recently awarded this year’s nearly $91.5 million in “Stop the Hate” grants to more than 170 community groups after at least two disturbing incidents that police say were motivated by anti-LGBTQ+ views and racism. In August, a San Bernardino store owner was murdered after an argument over a rainbow “pride” flag hanging outside her store, and an Oakland elementary school was evacuated after receiving a bomb threat that police said was racially motivated.

Newsom last week also approved $10 million in funds to boost the presence of police at synagogues, mosques, and other places of worship as tensions have flared over the possibility of local violence stemming from the Israel-Hamas war. Allowing all places of worship to receive the funds to boost security appears even-handed and proactive at a time of rising tensions and threat levels. But the “Stop the Hate” grant to Equality California has sparked criticism from opponents that Newsom is inappropriately using state taxpayer funds to assist the top LBGTQ+ organization fighting parents over school board policies.

According to the California Department of Social Services, which issued the grants, the grants “may” fund various services and programs, including those providing mental health and legal services for victims and their families. The website also says funds could go to prevention services, including “arts and cultural work, youth development, senior safety and escort programs, safety planning, training and cross-racial alliance work.” Equality California has been at the center of the fight for protecting children’s right to change genders without their parents’ knowledge in public schools across the state.

The group has fiercely opposed the parental rights movement, labeling it homophobic and transphobic, and argues that notifying parents amounts to “forcibly outing” gender-transitioning children, which could lead to physical or emotional harm for these young people who already experience higher rates of depression, mental health, self-harm, and suicide than their peers. Equality California staff have attended school board meetings and appeared alongside Thurmond as he answers questions from the press.

The group’s staffers were among pro-LGBTQ+ advocates whom a Chino school board removed from a meeting along with Thurmond after he spoke against a proposed district policy that would require schools to inform parents if their students were changing their pronouns or asking to use different gendered facilities. Because money is fungible, and the grant can help offset costs for the organization’s other work, parental rights advocates have argued that the grant is inappropriately boosting the group’s lobbying efforts opposing parental rights policies at local school boards.

According to its 2021 tax filings with the IRS, the most recent available, Equality California Institute spent more than $400,000 on lobbying the state legislature and received nearly $6 million in revenue for that year alone. Carl DeMaio, a conservative radio talk show host in California who is gay, was the first to take issue with the Equality California grant in a post on his website, arguing that it was one of several designed to give a financial edge to left-leaning groups, such as Equality California, that actively engage in politics by endorsing candidates and other political activities.

For instance, the group endorsed Thurmond’s reelection last year, lauding him for “personally intervening” in a school board fight in Chino and working “diligently alongside Equality California to counter the attacks against our trans and gender-nonconforming youth, in particular, and we could not ask for a better ally and champion for all California students.” It’s unclear if that endorsement came directly from the Institute or another part of Equality California’s nonprofit organization. “There’s nothing wrong with these far-left groups engaging in political advocacy. It’s their First Amendment right, but not with my tax dollars,” DeMaio told RealClearPolitics. “This is the oldest scam going on in California politics right now.

It’s the utilization of taxpayer money to subsidize Democrat and left-wing political organizations.” “If the National Rifle Association or the Cato Institute or the Heritage Foundation were receiving taxpayer money, the left and the media would be lighting their hair on fire, but here in California, you have political groups getting money from the government, and no one bats an eye,” he added.

Equality California spokesman Jorge Reyes Salinas says the Institute does not engage in political work, as DeMaio alleges, and stressed that the entire grant is devoted to supporting the state’s “Stop the Hate” program. “Equality California Institute’s Stop the Hate program is a tool to ensure that LGBTQ+ Californians know about and have access to culturally responsive resources on hate crimes and bystander intervention,” he said in a statement to RCP. “Through outreach and partnerships, this program aims to advance education on how to curb the sharp increase in anti-LGBTQ hate crimes in California.” Newsom’s office did not respond to RCP’s inquiries about the grant.

Lance Christensen, a former state legislative staffer who ran for California superintendent of schools as a Republican last year, now serves as the vice president of education policy and government at the conservative California Policy Center. The Center is one of the main groups backing the parental rights policies in school boards across the state. Christensen argues that the deck is heavily stacked against his side because parents are already fighting the deep-pocketed teacher unions who back many of the policies parents’ rights groups have tried to fight, including extended COVID school shutdowns that kept students in virtual learning longer than many other states.

On top of that, the leaders of Equality California, which is more ideologically aligned with the Democrats who run the state, “feel like it’s their right and duty to extract money from taxpayers to help amplify their views,” he argued. “The fact of the matter is, most parents are well aware of the positions these groups have,” he said. “They just aren’t aware that their tax dollars are going to subsidize these activities.” Equality California has backed a raft of pro-LGBTQ+ bills that Newsom signed into law in late September, including several measures the governor’s office has said are designed to “better support vulnerable youth.”

Among the new laws is one that would require courts to keep all petitions for a change of gender identity in public documents, including those filed by minors, confidential. The group also strongly backed the Transgender, Gender-Diverse and Intersex Youth Empowerment Act, which would have required judges to consider whether parents have affirmed the gender identity of their children in custody disputes.

While Newsom said he shares the commitment to advance transgender rights, he vetoed that bill in mid-September, arguing that it would inappropriately change legal standards for another branch of government.

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School districts that seek to ban textbooks that portray LGBTQ+ people and other historically marginalized groups could face hefty fines under a new California law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday. The legislation is the culmination of the Democratic governor’s fight against a majority-conservative school board in the Riverside County city of Temecula.

The board opposed materials in the summer because of their portrayal of gay rights icon and slain San Francisco politician Harvey Milk. School districts statewide will face more scrutiny of curriculum decisions regarding social science materials, which must feature “inclusive and diverse perspectives,” including the role and contribution of Latino Americans, LGBTQ+ Americans and other ethnic and cultural groups.

The bill is an effort to “reaffirm” and more strictly enforce state laws that already mandate lessons on ethnic studies and LGBTQ+ history . It comes as school boards in California’s Republican-leaning districts have approved policies reflective of national GOP culture wars regarding “parental rights” over issues such as gender identity and racial history.

Newsom signed the bill alongside its author, Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D-Perris), on Monday, slamming what he called a national “cultural purge” led by Republican leaders who have sought to limit what textbooks are allowed in schools. “We have school districts large and small banning books, banning free speech, criminalizing librarians and teachers,” Newsom said Monday. “We want to do more than just push back rhetorically against that, and that’s what this legislation provides.”

Earlier on Monday, Newsom announced that he would publicly debate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for president and is credited with inspiring an upswing in school book bans nationally . Under the new California law, noncompliant school districts will face fiscal penalties, with the state subtracting the purchase price of sufficient textbooks from a district’s local control funding formula allotment.

In the Temecula case, that was estimated to be $1.5 million, but the board reversed course after Newsom’s threat to intervene. The bill adds to the job duties of local superintendents, who will now be tasked with overseeing and correcting any textbook decisions made by elected school board members that are prohibited. “AB 1078 is doing some heavy lifting,” Kindra Britt, a spokesperson for the California County Superintendents, said Monday. “The state is trying to balance the rights of students without adding oxygen to highly politicized local conflicts.

That’s not easy.” The bill was supported by advocacy groups including the ACLU, which said it was necessary for Newsom to intervene in school policies discriminatory against LGBTQ+ students and students of color. But the bill faced opposition from parents who said it would allow for age-inappropriate materials in schools, and from a list of local officials at schools — and not just officials representing conservative districts.

The California School Boards Assn. called the bill “heavy-handed,” warning that it could complicate local education decisions by involving state and county officials when laws are already in place to ensure inclusive textbooks. CSBA spokesperson Troy Flint said Monday that many school officials “understand the motivation” of the legislation and are supportive of inclusive education but believe local control is best.

There are concerns that the bill sets a precedent to allow the state to override local school decisions beyond the scope of the current textbook issue. “There are a lot of concerns related to implementation,” Flint said Monday. “I think this bill, to a certain extent, was pushed forward without thinking about what could happen in a different scenario.

Really, the best laws should make sense and be fair no matter what the political landscape is or who is in power at that particular moment.” This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has invited thousands of LGBTQ+ individuals to celebrate Pride Month in a high-profile show of support at a time when the community feels under attack like never before and the White House has little recourse to beat back a flood state-level legislation against them.

Biden was announcing new initiatives to protect LGBTQ+ communities from attacks, help youth with mental health resources and homelessness and counter book bans, White House officials said.

The White House was closely monitoring air quality due to hazardous smoke from Canadian wildfires to determine whether to proceed with plans for a Thursday night picnic featuring food, games, face painting and photos. Queen HD the DJ was handling the music; singer Betty Who was on tap to perform.

Karine Jean-Pierre, the first openly gay White House press secretary, said Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their spouses are strong supporters of the LGBTQ+ community and think that having a celebration is an important way to “lift up” their accomplishments and contributions.

She said LGBTQ+ people need to know that Biden “has their back” and “will continue to fight for them. And that’s the message that we want to make sure that gets out there.”

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer individuals, earlier this week declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ individuals in the United States and released a guidebook outlining laws it deems discriminatory in each state.

Just a few days into June’s Pride Month, the campaign said it acted in response to an “unprecedented and dangerous” spike in discriminatory laws sweeping statehouses this year, with more than 525 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced and more than 70 signed into law so far — more than double last year’s number.

Kelley Robinson, the campaign’s president, called for a “swift and powerful” response by people in power, including in government, business and education.

“This is a full-out crisis for our communities that demands a concerted response,” she said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I think this is kind of a national call to action and a call to arms to stand up and fight back.”

Biden was announcing that the Department of Homeland Security, working with the Justice and Health and Human Services departments, will partner with LGBTQ+ community organizations to provide safety resources and training to help thwart violent attacks.

Separately, HHS and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will provide resources to help LGBTQ+ young people with mental health needs, support in foster care and homelessness.

To confront a spike in book bans, Biden was announcing that the Department of Education’s civil rights office will appoint a new coordinator to work with schools to address that threat. The White House said banning books erodes democracy, deprives students of material needed for learning and can contribute to the stigma and isolation that LGBTQ+ youth feel because books about them are often the ones that are prohibited.

Hundreds of bills have been proposed restricting the rights of transgender people, including limiting their access to certain forms of health care, and LGBTQ+ advocates say they’ve seen a record number of such measures in statehouses.

The White House points out that Biden has a record of supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals, including appointing them to prominent positions in the federal government, such as Jean-Pierre.

After the Supreme Court last year overturned a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion, Biden signed legislation to protect marriage equality. He continues to urge Congress to send him the Equality Act, which would add civil rights protections for LGBTQ+ individuals to federal law.

Polls show that public support for the rights of people who are gay and lesbian has expanded dramatically over the last two decades, with about 7 in 10 U.S. adults in polling by Gallup saying that marriages between same-sex adults should be legally valid and that gay and lesbian relationships are morally acceptable.

But attitudes toward transgender people are complex: In polls conducted in 2022 by KFF and the Washington Post and by the Pew Research Center, majorities said they support laws prohibiting discrimination against transgender people in areas such as housing, jobs and schools.

At the same time, both polls found that a majority of Americans think that whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by sex assigned at birth, and many also support restrictive policies aimed at people who are transgender, for example preventing transgender women and girls from participating in sports teams matching their gender identity, along with restrictions on access to medical treatment like puberty blockers and hormone treatment for transgender teens and children.

The Log Cabin Republicans, which represents LGBTQ+ conservatives, criticized the Human Rights Campaign’s declaration of a “state of emergency” as a “PR stunt so ignorantly detached” from the community’s progress over the past decade.

Charles Moran, the group’s president, noted the gay marriage legislation Biden signed, increased public support for equal rights for LGBTQ+ Americans and their higher visibility across society and accused the campaign of “destructively redefining” support for these individuals around trans surgeries for minors, biological men competing in women’s sports, and sex and gender identity lessons in kindergarten.

“While these issues can be emotional and complex, they in no way pose an unprecedented ‘state of emergency’ to the LGBT community, which has persevered through far worse,” Moran said.

___

Associated Press writers Emily Swanson in Washington and Hannah Schoenbaum in Raleigh, N.C., contributed to this report.

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The Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. on Tuesday and released a guidebook pointing to laws it deems discriminatory in each state, along with “know your rights” information and resources to help people relocate to states with stronger LGBTQ+ protections.

Sounding the alarm about the current political climate, the nation’s largest organization devoted to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans said travel advisories aren’t enough to help people already living in states where lawmakers have targeted LGBTQ+ people.

“We need champions right now,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in an interview with The Associated Press. President Joe Biden and other LGBTQ+ rights supporters with decision-making authorities, she said, need to be more than just allies.

The declaration is a call to action for “people in power at every level” of government and the business community, she said, urging them to fight for LGBTQ+ rights with the same fervor as they’ve fought for abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.

“When Dobbs fell, you saw a federal response to deal with the abortion crisis that we’re in,” Robinson said. “We are in a crisis of even greater scale to the health and well-being of the LGBTQ+ community, and we need that same sort of response.”

Just a few days into Pride Month, the campaign said it’s taking action in response to an “unprecedented and dangerous” spike in discriminatory legislation sweeping state houses this year, with more than 525 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced and more than 70 signed into law so far in 2023 — more than double last year’s number.

A recent Associated Press analysis found that many bills seeking to ban or restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender youth, who have been the primary targets of state legislation this year, sprang not from grassroots or constituent demand, but from the pens of a few powerful conservative interest groups.

The HRC guidebook, meanwhile, provides information about filing complaints for civil rights violations and points to resources for financing moves and finding employment, particularly in the 17 states with a trifecta of Democratic leadership in both legislative chambers and the governor’s office.

“The amount of calls I get every day from parents asking how they can move to another state because they’d rather mourn their home than their child is real,” Robinson said. “This is a different level of urgency and demanded a different level of response.”

The emergency declaration is the first in the 43-year history of the HRC, which encompasses a foundation focusing on research, advocacy and education, national and state lobbying campaigns and a political action committee that supports and opposes candidates for office. It comes as Republican-dominated legislatures around the country have restricted various aspects of transgender existence, from pronoun usage and bathroom access to medical care and more.

Louisiana is poised to become the latest state to enact new restrictions, after the veto-proof GOP-controlled Legislature on Tuesday sent a package to the governor that includes a ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Lawmakers also overwhelming passed a bill outlining pronoun usage for students and another that would broadly ban K-12 public school employees from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in the classroom. The legislation is similar to the Florida law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”

As many LGBTQ+ Americans are celebrating their identities this month against the backdrop of a dizzying array of new restrictions, some trans people and their families are scrambling to flee their home states.

For Debi Jackson, the mother of a trans child in Kansas City, Missouri, a recently rolled back emergency rule from the Republican attorney general, which would have restricted gender-affirming care for minors and some adults, pushed the family to its breaking point.

“My kiddo has decided that they’ve had enough of having to think every single day about what the government is going to do to torment them next,” said Jackson, 49.

Her child, 16-year-old Avery, gained national notoriety in 2017 when they became the first trans person to grace the cover of National Geographic magazine at age 9. Jackson, who has since become an outspoken advocate for her child and others in the region, said her family had once pledged to stay in the state and keep fighting.

“Because we are so visible, we kind of worried, if we pack up and go, what message does that send other people, and would it seem like we were leaving them behind?” she said. “But moving doesn’t mean we’re giving up or throwing in the towel. If anything, it demonstrates just how dire this crisis has become.”

An increasing number of trans people this year have suddenly found themselves without access to the medical care many credit as life-saving. Some are turning to often-dangerous “do-it-yourself” hormone treatments to avoid involuntarily reversing their physical transitions.

And as Pride Month festivities kick off this week, organizers are beefing up security amid threatened protests by some extremist groups. A mass shooting last fall inside a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs left many LGBTQ+ community members feeling especially vulnerable.

___

Hannah Schoenbaum is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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After polls closed, Mia Bonta had just over 55% of the vote, compared to about 45% for her opponent, Janani Ramachandran, with about 46,000 votes counted.

Mia Bonta is backed by a powerful coalition of political, business and union leaders that Ramachandran says makes her beholden to special interests.

Bonta had 38% of the vote in the June primary, well short of the majority she needed to win outright and avoid a runoff with Ramachandran, who finished second with 25%. Under California’s election system the top two vote-getters move on the general election regardless of their party affiliation.

Two-thirds of voters in the 18th Assembly District are registered Democrats. Rob Bonta won with 87% support in each of his last four elections. He left the Legislature in April after Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him to fill the state’s top law enforcement post.

Mia Bonta is president of the Alameda School Board and chief executive of Oakland Promise, a college and career preparation program in the city’s public schools. She raised nearly three times as much as her opponent and benefited from four independent expenditure committees that spent nearly $1 million on her behalf.

Bonta has endorsements from the state Democratic Party, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland and the state treasurer, schools superintendent and secretary of state. Bonta, 49, is also backed by the Legislature’s Latino and Black caucuses.

“I’ve dedicated my life to fighting for progressive change,” Bonta said in a campaign ad. “From anti-poverty activist to education nonprofit leader, I’ll keep leading on investing in public schools, bold climate action, and criminal justice reform.”

Ramachandran, 29, is a social justice attorney, previously served on the Oakland Public Ethics Commission and currently serves on the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs. She is backed by the Legislature’s Asian and Pacific Islander and LGBTQ caucuses and U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna. Ramachandran says Bonta isn’t progressive enough for the 18th District that includes a large swath of Oakland.

“My opponent may have the corporations on her side – but what we have is much more powerful: the power of the people,” Ramachandran said in backing “a true living wage, Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, rooting racism out of our criminal-legal systems, and ending inhumane evictions.”

The results of Tuesday’s special election will be certified by Sept. 10.

AP News | Contributed

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A new survey by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation illuminates the state of COVID-19 vaccinations among LGBTQ individuals, filling in gaps where states’ and the nation’s lack of data collection had left them somewhat invisible. The LGBTQ+ data is “first-of-its-kind,” writes Adam Barnes in The Hill, and shows broad vaccine uptake by the community. As of the May-June study period, 92% of the U.S. respondents had received at least one COVID-19 shot, compared to 73% of American adults as of August 20. (Because the survey was distributed via LGBTQ events and media, and the organizers accepted replies from anyone who cared to participate without controlling other demographics, they note their findings are probably not fully representative of the entire LGBTQ+ community.) The high uptake in the LGBTQ community might be due to a greater prevalence of liberal attitudes and disproportionate residency in urban regions and Democrat-dominated states, suggested David Paisley, senior director of research for study partner Community Marketing & Insights. Black, Native American, Alaskan Native, Middle Eastern and North African respondents had the lowest vaccination rates at 85%. The survey also found that half of participants said the pandemic impacted their mental health, and more than half felt socially isolated, compounding existing mental health challenges in the LGBTQ+ community. The pandemic has also impacted LGBTQ youth, cutting off access to counseling and communities and sometimes forcing teens to cloister with family members that don’t support their identities or sexuality.

COVID-19 has overlapped with the ongoing HIV epidemic, and UC San Francisco researchers examined how lockdowns impacted use of protective PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) treatment at a San Francisco clinic, reports Killian Meara at Contagion Live. When the city was under shelter-in-place orders, fewer people started PrEP, and many let their treatment lapse, especially younger patients. But it will take more research to determine how the delay or pause in prevention affected people, the study authors wrote.

Bring on the boosters

Last Monday, Pfizer and its partner BioNTech submitted their initial data to support emergency authorization of a booster dose to the FDA. By Wednesday, the White House had announced boosters for the general population would be available starting Sept. 20. The reasons behind the decision, according to CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, include new data on waning immunity against infection over time, as well as the rise of the delta variant — the same factors leading to a summer of breakthrough cases. The situation in Israel also suggests a grim forecast for the United States and rest of the world, writes Meredith Wadman at Science: Though 78% percent of the 12-and-up population has had two shots of an mRNA vaccine (mostly Pfizer’s), the nation is seeing 65 new cases per 100,000 people per day. “If it can happen here, it can probably happen everywhere,” said Ran Balicer, chief innovation officer at Israel’s largest HMO, Clalit Health Services. “This is a very clear warning sign for the rest of the world.”

But the debate around boosters has confused even experts, writes Helen Branswell at STAT, leading to “bafflement, concern, and even anger.” The vaccines remain quite effective against severe illness. The timing also seems rushed: neither the CDC nor the FDA has yet signed off on booster shots for the general population. And third shots for Americans means fewer first shots for people in other parts of the world. For that reason, the WHO has called for a delay in boosters until at least the end of September. Epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina of the University of Texas also professed confusion on her blog (which includes a handy timeline laying out scientific findings and institutional actions related to boosters), but praised the government for taking a proactive approach to protect Americans. NIH director Dr. Francis Collins said, “We don’t want to wait until it’s like, ‘Oh too late.’” He likened the situation to refilling your car with gas before the tank hits empty.

The current plan is to provide boosters to people who got the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines eight months after the second shot. While it’s not entirely clear why eight months is the magic number, it’s not surprising a booster would be needed, writes Jetelina. Multi-dose vaccinations are most effective at building durable immunity when separated by at least six months. Getting both doses in much faster made sense at the height of the pandemic, but also may have made boosters inevitable. A longer gap gives the immune system time to hone its antibodies, explains Amanda D’Ambrosio at MedPage Today, and her sources suggested the third shot may be the last needed.

People who got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will have to await forthcoming data from the company’s trial of a two-dose regiment for any booster recommendations. People who participated in the trials for AstraZeneca and Novavax vaccines, which haven’t yet been approved, are also stuck in limbo for now.

Pediatric ICUs fill up

A record number of children are hospitalized with COVID-19 — nearly 2,000 as of last week. Wards are particularly full in Southern states, where vaccination rates lag, while other regions are less impacted. San Francisco, with more than 70% of the population vaccinated, recently reported no children hospitalized for COVID.

With schools in session, “this is just the beginning,” Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told CNN’s Jake Tapper. Los Angeles Unified, one of the largest public school districts in the nation, found that eight in 1,000 students tested positive before the school year began. And more than 5,000 students are already in quarantine or isolation in Florida’s Hillsborough County.

While older children are most likely to bring the virus home, a recent study finds that kids aged 3 or younger who do contract coronavirus are more likely to spread it around their households. That’s likely due to close contact and cuddles between tots and caregivers, write Sony Salzman and Dr. Lauren R. Richter at ABC News. The finding is a bit of an unexpected twist, given that transmission by children was previously thought to be low, acknowledged pediatrician Dr. Edith Bracho Sanchez at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. But early in the pandemic, the youngest children were rarely out in the world to get exposed. “It just shows how humble we have to be when it comes to children and this virus,” Bracho Sanchez said.

Where does the virus go from here?

As the U.S. struggles with delta, it’s fair to start wondering what variants might emerge next — though impossible to predict the answer, notes Andrew Joseph in STAT. “The coronavirus appears destined to march its way through the Greek alphabet,” writes Dr. Dhruv Khullar for The New Yorker. But that doesn’t mean the virus will keep getting nastier and more transmissible forever. Dr. Roberto Burioni, a leading Italian virologist at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, offered Khullar three possible endgames: In the best-case scenario, the virus can’t evolve around our vaccine defenses, as has happened for other diseases such as polio and smallpox. Or the coronavirus might evolve to evade our immune response, but at the same time lose some of its infectivity or lethality, still putting humanity in a better position than before. HIV underwent a similar change in the 1990s, gaining the ability to resist an antiviral drug but losing replication efficiency in the process. In the worst case, the virus evolves to evade immunity but remains a highly contagious killer — no tradeoffs involved. Fortunately, experts think this last scenario isn’t likely. “I don’t think we’ll end up with variants that completely escape antibodies or vaccine-induced immunity,” Florian Krammer, a vaccinologist at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, told Joseph. And even in that less likely case, Burioni said, vaccines can be updated to meet the new threat. The back-and-forth volleys between virus and vaccine-makers are still likely to end, eventually, in some sort of détente.

Amber Dance | Columnist

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“We teach spiritual practices that will change your life,” so says Senior Minister Reverend Rhonda Tretsven. The law of attraction, meditation, self-awareness, tuning in to your intuitions just to name a few. She goes on, “Learn to really love, accept, and forgive through God’s love – not judgment, if you are a good person. That includes couples living together, members of the LGBT and 4-20 community, parents, etc. YES! You are welcome. Of course, folks living a ‘traditional’ lifestyle are welcome also. Please know, wherever you are on your spiritual path, you are welcome here.”

That includes a broad spectrum of life.

I had the privilege of interviewing the good reverend while covering an upcoming event, which I will speak of later. I wanted to know more about such a welcoming, not judgmental organization.

Q. I’d like to know about the history of the church and what you do here today.

A. Because we are known for the science of mind, people confuse us with Scientology, a religion unto itself. We are not Scientology, although we do not condemn or criticize any faith because they all have beliefs and purpose. Back in the late eighties, the church was on Tahquitz Street in Hemet. They were growing at such a terrific rate they decided to purchase this property at Girard and Stetson. The two found ing ministers, who were part of that, in 1988 they broke ground to create a two-dome facility. Unfortunately, at the time, the county was not too happy about them building a round church. They may have been thinking Muslum – it wasn’t square with a steeple. So the county began giving them a list of what to do and what not to do—a lot of hoops to jump through in order to complete construction. The last thing they were told to do in order to complete their wishes was that they had to plant over 30 trees. It didn’t matter what kind of trees, just make sure there were thirty. Thus the church was born.

It was filled to capacity every single Sunday. In the eighties, when the positive philosophy was really going strong, this was part of that web. We are Christian-based, but we are what is called metaphysical, which means that we go beyond the norm. We accept you if you’re gay, straight or whatever. We don’t care who you are. We are more mental than denominational. Every Sunday, I get up and say, “I’m not going to ask you to give up your beliefs. I’m just going to ask that you go deeper with your God of understanding. We promote love by striving to create an atmosphere of being at home, no matter who or what you are or have been labeled to be. We do not persecute in any way. Whenever they come through our doors we don’t ask where they are coming from – Catholic, Methodist or Fundamentalist – we want them to know they are welcome here and we’re not trying to change their religious beliefs. We will never tell anyone that they can only know and practice any particular way. This is basically a Christian Valley and I understand and respect that.

I’ve been here almost fifteen years and a member of this church for 12 years and pastor for six. I belong to the Interfaith Council so I understand my fellow colleagues; if someone says, “I feel comfortable being Jewish,” then I say, “yeah.” Tell me about your being Jewish, tell me about your culture and what it means to you. We have Muslims and Hindus who come here I look at these beautiful faith traditions as cultures. Not only do they bring their understanding of God or higher power, but bur also they bring rich culture.

When we think of so many powers it is beautiful and it is rich. If we say, this is the only way we limit ourselves because there are so many other faiths. We should say, “I love you just the way you are.” I want to know more about your understanding of who you are in this miasma of beliefs. What my goal has been as a minister here is explaining who we are because our church has been so misunderstood over time because we are round, not square. In that misunderstanding, people think we are connected to another faith, and we are not.

What has happened over time is there has been a disruption, so to speak. People see our sign and say, Oh, we don’t want to go there because they are part of a cult. A cult can be defined by a leader and a dogma. Every religion is a cult or spin-off from something else. When people refer us to a cult, I think, so is the Christian religion – whatever religion might be the basis of their belief.

I’ve been wanting to reach the community. I also want to open up our church so that people can understand us and know who we are, that we are not judgmental; when you come through our doors, all we want to do is love you and share. What we have done over recent years becomes a cultural center with church on Sunday.

Q. What are some of the things you offer to people who visit here?

A. We offer the individual or group to be their expansive creative self. When the homeless come we find out their needs and refer them to a source that can fulfill their needs. We began as the center to help others. The reason that we want to build a cultural center is so that we can unite people. To create a way for the quilters, the painters, UAW – whoever you are to come together in a common purpose. We even have offices here. We have AA, UAW. We wish to become the cultural center of this community. When we help them, we are actually helping the City of Hemet. When we can help someone, it goes on like a ripple. For everyone that’s here – Yoga or painting or whatever it is, people are encouraged to come in here and share their experiences with others. We’re not only sharing our cultures but also letting others know who we are – that we are all somebody and important in our right. There’s no religion in it. It is just kindness and love. People who come here are not required to be any way except who they are.

They have many upcoming events, anew of which are listed below:

• • Gigantic Rummage Sale (includes furniture) / Friday and Saturday, August 27th and 28th / 8:00am – 2:00 PM
  • Crystal Lotus (Spiritual-Holistic-Metaphysical Wellness Fair” /September 4th / 10 am to 2 pm
  • Holistic Registry / Third Saturday of the month at 1:00 pm / $13 cash at the door.
  • Women’s Recovery Meeting / Every Saturday at 8:30 am
  • UAW Monthly Luncheon / First Thursday of the month at 11:00 am
  • Yoga Classes / Every Tuesday and Thursday / Class 1 11:00am – Tea Time / $10 fee per class
  • Trick or Treat October 21, 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm
  • Maze Stone Quilt Guild / In the Little Dome / First Wednesday of the month at 9:00 am
  • Hemet Valley Art Assoc., Inc / 2nd Wednesday of the month -1:00PM / In the Little Dome
  • Group Psychic Reading Experience / Saturday, September 18, 1:00 pm / $15 Event Fee
  • Located at 40450 Stetson Avenue / Hemet, CA 92544 / Phone: 951-658-5157

So if you are seeking a spiritual and sharing experience, there is something at the Center for Spiritual Living to offer something to everyone interested in Spirituality and seeking common ground for anyone who cares about life and higher powers.

Just sayin’

Ray Strait | Senior Reporter

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