Fabrice Houdart | A weekly newsletter on LGBTQ+ Equality
This week: AOC and Japan Gay Rights, Italy’s left queer leader, WorldPride in Sydney, Cicciline resigns, Buttigieg in the hot seat, Lighfoot is out, PFLAG 50th this Friday, SxSW in Austin & much more
Welcome to my weekly equality news digest, where I share important (and much less important) news, updates, and commentary about the global LGBTQ+ equality movement at the intersection with business.
This week: Beware the ides of March: AOC and Japan Gay Rights, Italy’s left queer leader, WorldPride in Sydney, Cicciline resigns, Buttigieg in the hot seat, Lighfoot is out, PFLAG 50th this Friday, SxSW in Austin & much more
Global News
Japan: gets a visit from AOC
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told Japan this week it was time to be more inclusive of its LGBTQ+ citizens (read about it here). She also apparently spent time with our Ukrainian friend Alexander Dmitrenko, the consummate Tokyo host. The story does not say if she grabbed dinner with Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador, whose nomination she vehemently opposed, or got his famous whisky bottle gift. Her public comments coalesced with other senior US visits. Immediately after, PM Kishida seemed to backpedal on recent indications Japan might at least pass some form of civil union. Back to square 1?
Italy: a queer woman now leads the left
While a right-wing leader is now in power in Italy, the Democratic Party has elected a 37-year-old progressive, queer woman as its new leader: Elly Schlein. A member of the European Parliament, Schlein is the first woman ever to lead the party, and the youngest leader in the history of the party. Italy remains the only country in Western Europe still lacking marriage equality. See her Wikipedia profile.
Australia: visibility and politics at World Pride
Everybody was in Sydney this week, including three LGBTQ+ Special Envoys (Italy, UK, US - where was France’s Jean-Marc Berthon?) and the US Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank Chantal Wong. Tens of thousands attended Sydney's LGBTQ+ Mardi Gras Parade this weekend, where a sitting Australian Prime Minister marched for the first time. The UN Independent expert for SOGI, Victor Madrigal, had a message for the government: warning them against a religious exemption in the planned ban on conversion therapy. Madrigal also gave a fiery speech in front of 1800 people opening the Human Rights Conference last night:
“We will only address these challenges when we place our political demands at the service of wider social justice.”
Great Britain: Hannah Barne’s controversial book
Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children by Hannah Barne continues to make global headlines as it accuses the clinic of widespread medical malpractice affecting children. This week, Barnes claimed that her exposé scared off its first 22 potential publishers, either for being "too controversial" or because publishers felt unable to "get it past" pro-trans junior staff members.
Kenya: a court victory for local LGBTQ+ organization
The National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (NGLHRC) was vindicated by the Supreme Court of Kenya this week when it affirmed the decisions of lower courts to allow for the registration of The NGLHRC as a non-governmental organization with the words ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ in its title. The judges ruled three-to-two that the country's NGO board was wrong to stop the NGLHRC from registering in 2013. As a reminder, Kenya's High Court upheld criminalization in 2019, a backward step in the progress we are witnessing in Africa. Read about it in this BBC article.
France: the Palmade tragedy and a media frenzy
A few weeks ago, Gay humorist Pierre Palmade caused a deadly car accident while driving under the influence. The accident continues to be on the front pages and Palmade was just incarcerated. Conservative media use the “affaire” - particularly its “chemsex” aspect - to denigrate gay people. The Huffington Post highlighted how media attention in France is often tainted with homophobia. As an example, in French Valeurs Actuelles this week, you could read:
“There are two temptations in the gay community: victimization and glorification, which are two sides of the same coin.”
US News
The story behind David Cicciline’s resignation
Rep. David Cicilline, one of 13 LGBTQ+ members of Congress, will resign on June 1 to run the Rhode Island Foundation (read about it here). This felt like a rather unexpected development after Cicciline unsuccessfully threw his hat in the ring for House Democratic leadership last year. It is also (yet another) indirect casualty of Sean Patrick Maloney’s political maneuvering. I heard Cicciline’s decision described as “too many bridges were burnt, that would take too long to repair”. Altogether it is terrible news for the LGBTQ+ community, as there is a singular lack of representation in out Democrats’ leadership in Congress and a weak pipeline. Cicciline was a rare quality politician with a good reputation among his colleagues. Now a question I have is: Who will head the Equality Caucus? George Santos?
More black LGBTQ+ leaders in politics
Talking about SPM and Mondaire Jones, read this insightful report by the Victory Institute on the growing racial diversity among LGBTQ+ leaders in office. Black LGBTQ+ representation significantly increased between 2018 and 2023 from 30 to 125, particularly for women (from 16 to 57).
Gallup’s numbers: conservatives are on a collision course with demographics
Gallup claims that the percentage of Americans identifying as LGBTQ+ has doubled over the last decade to 7.1%. The figure is based on a 2022 Gallup telephone survey of over 10,000 adults. Interestingly, the bulk self-identify as bisexual (4.2%). Read the full report here. Republicans are on a collision course with demography which explains their endorsement of fascist leader Ron DeSantis. The reaction in conservative media, such as this Fox article, was telling:
“It is your surroundings and what's being indoctrinated to children, because why this huge uptick? Well, for the first time in history, California is promoting, endorsing [LGBTQ+ themes] in almost every area of academia. [It’s] not academics, it's social agenda.”
Pete Buttigieg: bruised by the East Palestine disaster
I don’t know about the Ides of March. Still, political opponents and, more privately, some of his allies have treated the East Palestine train derailment as a chance to put dents in Buttigieg, the gay US Secretary of Transportation considered by some as part of the Democratic Party’s future. Trump Jr. ‘elegantly’ claimed he was only appointed because he is gay (see below). His opponents have primarily hammered him for failing to speak publicly about the derailment until ten days after it happened and for not visiting the site until last week. Read about it in The Hill.
“But they let him do that [running for President] because he was gay, and they checked off a box, and then he didn’t win, but, well, he’s the gay guy, so we’ve got to give him something, let’s make him Transportation Secretary. “
Judge refuses to drop hate crime charges against Colorado Springs shooting suspect
Lawyers for Aldrich, who identifies as non-binary, tried to argue that he wasn’t targeting the community, which the prosecutors were quick to dismiss. The suspect is charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and other crimes related to shooting an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado. Read more about the preliminary hearings here.
Gabrielle Union-Wade, Dwayne Wade call for Black LGBTQ+ community support at NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the US civil rights organization to advance justice for African Americans. Gabrielle Union-Wade and Dwyane Wade - a prominent couple - gave a powerful acceptance speech at the NAACP Awards, calling for support for the Black LGBTQ+ community:
“Even as we demand equality at the top of our lungs, we consistently fail to extend our advocacy to protect some of our most vulnerable among us.”
From the Boardroom
Want to know more about search firms and Board recruitment?
Our friends at the UNC Director Diversity Initiative (DDI) are holding a virtual event tomorrow, Thursday, March 2nd, 4 - 5 pm EST to “pull back the curtain and hear from search firm professionals about how the process works from their vantage point”. While recruiters play a role in Board recruitment, they have been reticent to embrace LGBTQ+ diversity. Register here for: Behind the Curtain at Search Firms.
Our Board survey is still open: please take it and share it
Last week the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors launched the inaugural LGBTQ+ Boardroom Barometer Survey to improve our understanding of the barriers facing LGBTQ+ representation on corporate boards. Over 200 people (recruiters, candidates, board members, corporate secretaries, nom/gov committee members) have taken the survey. Here is the link. If you haven’t taken it, please do so and share it with your networks!
As a teaser, here is the word cloud based on responses from LGBTQ+ aspiring members to our question: “Use one word to describe how the process of securing a corporate board seat makes you feel.” This reinforces the case for the long-overdue Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors to be established.
Join our Board Director CyberSecurity Webinar on Friday at 12 p.m. EST
Cybersecurity can be an intimidating area for the board to oversee, as we were all born at the time of typewriters, yet it is a trendy board topic. I will moderate a discussion for Members of the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors with three cybersecurity leaders and board directors: Myrna Soto (on the boards of Spirit Airlines, Consumers Energy, Headspace Health, Delinea and TriNet), Albert Schulz, President, Kaerus Consulting and Lisa Young, Senior Metrics Engineer, Netflix. Email us at info@lgbtqdirectors.org if you are interested in learning more about Membership.
The semi-cultural desk
Demonstrations at Creating Change and GLAAD’s airplane banner
Let me leave this here without a comment. This article is about a protest against “room sizes” at last week's Creating Change Conference. And, in the same vein, GLAAD flew an airplane banner over famously right-wing New York with the performative message “10K NYT Readers say: better trans stories”. DeSantis better watch out !!!
I finally watched “The Inspection”
The movie paints the story of a young gay Black man training at a Marines boot camp. Believe it or not, I was supposed to do my compulsory military service and was enrolled. In 2001, before I had to go, President Jacques Chirac's government formally announced the end of mandatory military service. I always wondered if I would have survived basic training. The Inspection reminds us of how we had to hide under DOMA. My favorite line was:
“If we got rid of every gay man in the military, there would be no military,”
And …”The Whale”
A movie about a gay reclusive, morbidly obese English teacher who attempts to reconnect with his estranged teenage daughter. Frankly, I was disappointed. Sure, the movie humanizes Charlie, the dialogues are excellent, and the performance is too. However, it smakes a show of obesity and bulimia, which takes away from the empathy for human suffering it should be about. I fear Hollywood embraced it for the wrong reason: shock value. Read about the author here.
And “Women Talking”
I know I urgently need to get a social life [call me !!!]. Now the dialogues are brilliant in this movie too, but the trans character feels a bit out of place (I suspect GLAAD put him in there), and the estheticism is a little out of hand. A bit like if Tom Ford was the creative director of your average Mennonite community. Still excellent.
“Of an age”: a sweet movie
Set in the summer of 1999, a 17-year-old Serbian-born Australian amateur ballroom dancer experiences an unexpected and intense 24-hour romance with a friend's older brother. Now that is something I could get into. See the trailer below:
A lesbian kiss in “The Last of Us”
Episode 7, "Left Behind," was a flashback into the life of Ellie and her first love, Riley. As someone noted on Twitter, the series has mastered the "make you fall in love with a character and kill them that same episode" strategy. Pedro Pascal, the consummate Zaddy who plays the main character, is all over the media these days and often references his sister Lux Pascal who is trans (see here).
Midnight in the garden of good and evil: The show
The famous John Berendt’s book, which made for a great movie, will be adapted to a Broadway show by the wondrous Taylor Mac. Read about it here.
Coming and Going
Lori Lightfoot booted out of Chicago Mayoral race
Ms. Lightfoot, whose victory four years ago made her the first openly gay person to lead Chicago, did not make it past the primary yesterday. Residents who were unimpressed with her handling of crime challenged her on the campaign trail. She had also surrounded herself with somewhat disconnected staffers. Read more here.
Gigi Sohn, still unconfirmed, still under attack
Color of Change and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights sent a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee and White House urging the swift confirmation of Gigi Sohn this week. Rumor has it that Comcast, another “LGBTQ+-friendly” company peddled homophobic vilification to derail her nomination. The letter also condemns the Fraternal Order of Police’s position against Dohn, where it hurts:
“Despite the recent tragedy of Tyre Nichols' murder, the FOP is not focusing on reforming their industry, as one might have hoped, but on the FCC.”
Oh! Burn ! as my son Eitan would say
Town & Country: Justin Bond among the O.G. Divas
I have a subscription, so I was delighted to see Justin Bond in the second T&C O.G. list. The glamorous and enchanting Bond exemplifies “the courage to be disliked, to stick to your guns, to seek adventure and make trouble, to look past trends and embrace the next generation of like-minded mavericks, to keep going”. Bravo. See it here.
Geena Rocero joins SeeHer Board
Emmy-nominated producer, filmmaker, author, and activist Geena Rocero has joined the SeeHer advisory board. This initiative aims to increase the accurate portrayal of women and girls in advertising and media. Rivero’s biography is out this Spring. Read about it here.
The Gay Agenda
Friday at PFLAG 50th. I will be the one looking idle next to Tom Daley
I hope to see you this Friday as we celebrate 50 years of PFLAG. I am mostly going because Tom Daley, the British Olympic diver, will be presented with the inaugural George Takei Advocate Award at PFLAG’s 50th-anniversary gala in New York next month.
Monday: we celebrate David Mixner
On Monday, the Who’s Who of LGBTQ+ power and allies will celebrate activist David Mixner in New York! Join the party here.
March 10-19: SxSW Queer Programming
If you are in Austin this year, the Conference has many light and entertaining queer sessions to choose from. See here.
See you at the same time next week. As always, let us know what you think in the comments, and please share this newsletter with your networks!
I really like Pete Buttigieg - his intellect, poise, and wholesomeness make him a really good role model for gay men everywhere
Make sure to watch the Role Model Gala in London: https://www.involverolemodels.org/london-gala/
Founded by the ultimate LGBT NED Recruiter, Suki Sandhu (Audeliss and Involve)