Fabrice Houdart | A weekly newsletter on LGBTQ+ Equality
This week: India hearings roller coaster, the Hong Kong Gay Games, Museveni basking in hate, the fates of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon, DeSantis overreach, the Milken Conference, a scandal at Daylight
This week: India hearings roller coaster, the Hong Kong Gay Games, Museveni basking in hate, the fates of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon, DeSantis overreach, the Milken Conference, a scandal at Daylight, and much more…
Global News
India: history in the making
What a week! Anybody that followed the debate live oscillated between elation, frustration, despair, and hope (writing this strangely reminds me of all my past relationships). It was like a soap opera. Four judges came down with Covid. The Bar Council of India claimed 99.9% of India is opposed to same-sex marriage, which is entirely inaccurate and contradicts numerous Pew Research survey findings. Times of India had a piece on my friends Vaibhav and Parag, among the plaintiffs. Lesbian business leader Radhika Piramal wrote a powerful piece in The Hindu. If you want to understand the petition, its implications, and what happened last week, please join the Pride Circle webinar on April 28, where Ramkrishna Sinha (Co-Founder) will speak with Utkarsh Saxena (Petitioner & Advocate) on the case. Register here.
Uganda: Museveni loving the spotlight
President Museveni said he would sign some of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ+ legislation once provisions are added to “rehabilitate” gay people, vowing to resist international pressure. Museveni’s office issued a press release five days ago, noting he is sending the “Don’t Be Gay” bill back to Parliament for “minor amendments.” Civil society globally held a Day of Action against AHB2023 yesterday with probably limited impact.
Hong Kong Gay Games 2023: make or break
Sports have the potential to bridge societal attitudes. I attended the 2018 Gay Games in Paris, which got positive coverage (see my interview on France 24). The 2023 Games are now taking place in both Hong Kong and Guadalajara on 3-11 November 2023. Hong Kong had won the bid for the 11th Gay Games in 2016, but a Mexico component was added in February 2022, after a first postponement due to Covid travel restrictions. The host scaled down the event from 36 sports events to 22 and adjusted their expectation of visitors from 75,000 to 30,000 due to withdrawn government support. However, private companies have stepped up to sponsor the event. This is an effort worth supporting in the current regional context. I can barely run at 11:00/mi these days, but I would love to attend and help if I get a visa. This week, a civil-society petition against the Games was circulated online with this somewhat alarmist tagline:
"It will destroy Hong Kong and subvert the traditional moral concepts of the Chinese people. Help prevent the Gay Games from directly destroying the country's goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."
How many Gay people are there?
At this point, it is widely accepted that 7.2% of Americans identify as LGBTQ+. It has increased steadily for the past ten years but has flattened (see here). The data comes from the same Gallup survey - run year after year - it is a small sample, but it is the reference. In 2014, I brought Qing Wu to the World Bank, and he presented a slide on the global incidence of gay search terms on Google, showing the exact incidence of same-sex attraction globally. The World Bankers loved it, as you can imagine. Chances are it applies to non-conforming gender identity too.
US News
Florida: is DeSantis working toward his demise?
Peddling in prejudice is dangerous, and DeSantis is playing with fire. This week, the Florida Board of Education approved a ban on classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding the law that bans those lessons up to grade 3 to grade 4-12, at the request of DeSantis as he gears up for an expected presidential run (see here). In practice, it sends back homosexuals and trans people to the ranks of sex predators and deviants. It is infuriating, but watching how this entire drama hurts DeSantis’ chances of getting elected may make us feel better. There have been tremendous rumblings by folks on his side - especially donors - that DeSantis is going too far and being outflanked by Trump.
Montana: Being Trans in the Legislature
Things are heating up in Montana this week. Trans representative Zooey Zephyr is being silenced for having had the temerity to speak about amendments to state Senate Bill 99, which banned gender-affirming care for minors. The bill has been sent to the Republican governor for his signature. The Montana Freedom Caucus then sent a letter demanding her censure “for attempting to shame the Montana legislative body and by using inappropriate and uncalled-for language during a floor debate.” They also misgendered Zephyr repeatedly in the letter. Seven protesters were arrested yesterday as they chanted “Let her speak” in the hallways of the legislature for an hour.
"The only thing I will say, is if you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there’s an invocation when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands"
Tucker Carlson: a gift for Lesbian Visibility Week
To celebrate YOU this week, we got Tucker Carlson (Tucker also happens to be what my sons named their dog) fired! “Fox News Media and its top-rated host Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways, less than a week after parent company Fox Corp settled for $787.5 million a defamation lawsuit in which Carlson played a starring role. Hopefully, this is also Karma for Fox News's Tucker Carlson's homophobia-tinged attack on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Somewhere Justin Wells is crying…
The Boardroom
LGBTQ+ inclusion featured on top online governance forum
Richard Socarides and I published this piece on Monday on the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, the leading online blog in corporate governance and financial regulation. Our article explores the systemic and cultural barriers to entry for LGBTQ+ people in the Corporate Boardroom based on the survey run by the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors in February 2023. Download our report here, too, if you haven’t yet.
"The good news is that the LGBTQ+ board talent exists."
Speaking at Milken on Board Diversity
I am heading briefly to Beverly Hills this Sunday (flying directly from the Conference that dares not speak its name in the State that dares not speak its name) to intervene on a panel on Monday titled The Path to Board Diversity: Moving the Needle from Progress to Maintenance which will also feature Geena Rocero who recently gave the opening remarks at the dinner of the Association and is publishing her Horse Barbie memoir just in time for your Pride event. Please take a look at the session here.
Promoting Board Diversity: The Uncertain Role of Institutional Investors
As I head to Milken to flirt with public sector asset managers, I found this new article by Jill E. Fisch of the University of Pennsylvania and ECGI particularly interesting. It discusses how institutional investors have focused their attention on increasing diversity in corporate leadership, the potential motivations for that focus, and the impact of that focus to date. Power never concedes power without demand, and the repeal of AB979 in the U.S. makes the role of institutional investors even more critical.
Where should LGBTQ+ issues reside on the board?
For many boards, the audit committee is the primary owner of risk oversight, and that would cover CSR and ESG. However, some boards are now creating new committees focusing on these issues. Spencer Stuart had a fascinating study of 600 Board directors last year (see Sustainability in the Spotlight). Most respondents (43 percent) say primary ESG oversight is at the whole board level, followed by nominating/governance committee (30 percent) and ESG/sustainability committee (15 percent).
The Gay Business
Daylight gets press coverage, but not the right kind
Not sure how I managed to miss this article in NYMag about the Daylight banking lawsuit titled “the meltdown of a Gay Bank,” which portrays Rob Curtis as the gay Elizabeth Holmes or Adam Neumann. I blame the American cultish approach to the CEO role.
Disney: settles with Victoria Alonso
Disney has settled with Marvel Studios executive Victoria Alonso whose firing last month over her refusing to censor a Pride reference in “Ant-Man” shocked the entertainment industry. Disney loves to stand in the middle of a culture war with a target sign on its back, it might be time to add someone with knowledge of the community on their board (I happen to have binders and binders of people like that)
The semi-cultural desk
Men's skirts are in for Fall Winter 2023/2024
I was just informed about this trend—perfect timing, as I no longer fit into my suit pants. I did date a man a few years ago who self-described as an “alpha male” and wore kilts (my motto? “Fabrice Houdart taking bad decisions since 1978”).
Twitter re-allows misgendering
2023 is the year of pettiness. Twitter updated its content moderation guidelines removing a policy prohibiting the targeted deadnaming or misgendering of transgender people. Enacted in 2018, the policy explicitly stated that it violated Twitter’s rules to repeatedly and purposefully call a transgender person by the wrong name or pronouns. GLAAD protested.
Don Lemon was over-served by CNN
There is nothing that America loves more than building idols and then setting them on fire. Don Lemon burst into flames this week as the network let him go. This article needed help explaining why.
The Gay Agenda
May 4th: fighting disinformation webinar
SOGI Campaigns is hosting a fighting disinformation webinar on May 4th at noon UTC. You can register here if you like.
On the Cape next week
After the Milken Conference, I am taking a little R&R in Hyannis, May 5th to 11th, before I head to France. Don't hesitate to contact me if you are in Provincetown, and we can get a lobster roll together.
And to end a tough week on a friendly note
I know it’s from 2019, but this is a nice distraction from DeSantis cruel antics.
As usual, thank you for reading, and please forward the newsletter to anyone interested in your network.
Thanks. I appreciate being informed and am saluting the LGBTQ+ activists in India. And brave Montana State Representative Zephyr. Worried about Uganda, very worried. LGBTQ+ people in Uganda are like Jews in Hitler's Germany. Sanctions? Lifeboats?
On DeSantis and his campaign against sexual education -
Americans need to know that on the global stage, this campaign is led by Russia. Do they really want to shape their children's schools and communities in Putin's vision? Let me plug here my post about the recent debacle in one of the UN commissions. Unlike every other year, diplomats couldn't agree about new commitments to policies on education and population development because Russia led a campaign against mentioning sexual education. I explain in the post what are their (unfounded) concerns and why comprehensive sexuality education is really important.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/global-progress-81532756