Fabrice Houdart | A weekly newsletter on LGBTQ+ Equality

The biggest LGBTQ+ stories of 2023

Welcome to the 150th issue of my equality news digest. This week, we look back at LGBTQ+ developments in 2023 (besides the Substack controversy I raised at the end). Next week, I will send you my annual Crystal Ball gazing exercise for 2024 (given that I was wrong on pretty much everything last year, it’s worth a read).

This Year: Wins at the Vatican, Global Equality Strides & Setbacks, US Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills Surge, the 2023 Pride manufactured controversy, Queer Cultural Triumphs, and progress in the Corporate Boardroom...

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Global News

Global Trends: 📈📉 We witnessed strides toward equality in some countries but significant setbacks in some in Eastern Europe and Africa. These developments raised the fear of regional contagion.

Vatican: ✝️ The 2023 winner. The Pope started 2023 by reiterating that homosexuality should not be a crime, then met with Sister Jeannine Gramick and finally closed the year by announcing same-sex union blessings. Fr. James “Pope-whisperer” Martin deserves some credit.

Africa: 🚨 Overall, not good. Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act made global headlines (see President Signs Repressive Anti-LGBT Law). The international community’s response was swift, with the World Bank suspending new lending (I played my part). The U.S. ended up being both part of the problem (with the influence of evangelicals including a Congressman apparently) and the solution. The law is now challenged in the Constitutional Court. Ghana started working on a similar bill, creating fears of contagion on the continent. Mauritius decriminalized consensual sex between men (globally, another five decriminalized: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, Singapore, and the Cook Islands).

South America: 🔄 The election of Javier Milei in Argentina, who previously made anti-trans statements, was a sign that populism is not disappearing. Chile's gay Minister of Education faced and survived a dismissal motion. Jesús Ociel Baena, a Mexican non-binary activist, was murdered a month ago.

Asia: 📈 A positive record. Sure, India's Supreme Court verdict on same-sex marriage was a significant global disappointment, but the conversation itself was a win. Malaysia had a weird nervous breakdown around Rainbow Swatches. But Japan had a progressive ruling on gender change and even a possible opening for same-sex unions. Nepal celebrated its first same-sex marriage. And Thailand is about to approve it. The time has a summary of developments in the region.

Europe and Russia: 📉 Not Quiet on the Eastern Front. Russia is unhinged in its scapegoating of LGBTQ+ people, and Hungary tabled a regressive law that could target LGBTQ+ advocates. Italy made a petty move to marginalize LGBTQ+ families. Silver linings: Latvia's elected an openly gay president, and apparently, every single Minister in Macron’s Government is gay or heteroflexible. Spain also passed comprehensive legislation for LGBTQ+ rights, including simplified legal gender recognition​.

Middle East: 🔥 A disaster. An unexpected war dwarfed Israel's internal conflicts at the beginning of the year, and the situation for LGBTQ+ people in Lebanon worsened. This June 2023 quote from Yitzhak Pindrus, a senior member of the United Torah Judaism party, highlights the futility of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments:

In my worldview, the most dangerous thing to the State of Israel — more than Islamic State, more than Hezbollah, more than Hamas — is the permissiveness regarding arayot, because that’s what the Torah says

Other controversies: 🤔 There was a little Jamaica's diplomatic incident when it refused to accredit the spouse of a gay diplomat, and France had a very public Chemsex discussion after humorist Pierre Palmade’s car accident killed and injured several people.

Organizational and Legal Developments: 🌐 The Israeli-Palestinian blew up global LGBTQ+ listservs. The UN appointed Graeme Reid as its new LGBTQ+ Czar to replace Victor Madrigal-Borloz (who also deserves a New Year card). InterPride gained UN Consultative Status, and the European LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce expanded.

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US News

US Trends: 🚨 Not good, and it’s about to get worse with the Presidential campaign. Laura Ann Carleton’s murder, which was strangely quickly forgotten by the community, was, in my opinion, a turning point.

Legal Landscape: ⚖️🏛️ We continued to witness ongoing legal struggles for transgender rights in the U.S. If you want to ruin your appetite for New Year’s Eve, NBC News had a list of the 71 anti-LGBTQ+ Bills that became law in 2023. And yet, it is only a portion of 570 anti-LGBTQ+ bills that were introduced, with a focus on transgender and non-binary individuals.

Political Landscape: 🌈In 2023, we enjoyed discovering Congress's new speaker, Mike Johnson. It was also the year of gay scandals on Capitol Hill, first with Santos and then, ending the year on a high note with not one but TWO frisky gay staffers. Trans actress Angelica Ross announced her intention to run for office, and Sarah McBride (D, Delaware) seems well positioned to become the first openly trans member of Congress.

Social and Cultural Challenges: 🏙️ Support for LGBTQ+ issues is decreasing in the U.S. despite the self-congratulatory attitude of leading national advocacy organizations.

Controversies: 📜⚔️ The national debate on educational content resurrected the notion that LGBTQ+ people are “groomers,” a 30-year step back. The Human Rights Campaign declared “a full state of emergency” for LGBTQ+ people, but it wasn’t clear how it helped. In the meantime, GLAAD had a busy year boycotting the New York Times.

Economic Impact and Global Influence: 💼🌍 The Biden administration's emphasis on LGBTQ+ rights globally remained a silver lining.

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The Gay Business

Deloitte Global 2023 LGBT+ Inclusion @ Work painted a picture of a workplace that still has a long way to go to be LGBTQ+ inclusive. 42% of respondents experienced non-inclusive behaviors in the workplace, often due to their sexual orientation or gender identity​.

The very hyped Pride 2023 “debacle.” The Anheuser Busch and Target “controversies” wasted a lot of ink in 2023. It was exhausting. And then June was over, and the news cycle moved on. The greatest winner is Dylan Mulvaney, now the most-known trans person in America. Drinking beer on Instagram ended up being their smartest move. And if I may, I will quote myself (!) with my reaction in this Wall Street Journal article:

“It’s not the end of LGBT marketing. It’s the end of amateurism in LGBT marketing”

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Queering the Boardroom

The Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors had an excellent year. 📈 We published a little summary of our 2023 achievements on our website last week, which you can find here.

Key LGBTQ+ appointments in the Boardroom. 📈 2023 started really well with the prominent appointment of Beth Ford at Starbucks. We published the list of another 29 members of the Association who added a Board seat in 2023.

Legal and regulatory developments. 🔄 Rep Meeks’s bill, “Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act,” persisted in excluding LGBTQ+ people from their definition of diversity. Pressure is intensifying on the SEC to expand the successful NASDAQ Board Diversity disclosures to all public companies. Jay Blum suffered a defeat in Court in his challenge of the disclosures.

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The Semi-Cultural Desk

Cultural Trend: 📈 We had a good year. There is so much LGBTQ+ content I cannot keep up.

First, my favorite entertainment quote by Michael Arden at the Tony Awards 2023:

Growing up, I was called the f-word more times than I could remember, And all I can say now is, I'm a faggot with a Tony!

2023 LGBTQ+ Movies and Series: here are my recommendations for your winter break. "Saltburn" is now available on Prime Video: Jacob Elordi and Barry Keoghan star in this non-queer film with homoerotic undertones. "Rustin" on the pragmatic activism of Civil Rights hero Rustin Bayard with valuable lessons for contemporary justice struggles. "Passages": A film that humorously reflects on relationship shortcomings. "Bottoms": A clever and humorous approach to high school lesbians storytelling. I loved Tar in particular for this quote: “As a BIPOC pangender person, Bach’s misogynistic life makes it kind of impossible for me to take his music seriously.” And, of course, "Fellow Travelers" for its depiction of the traumatizing McCarthy era. The White Lotus and Succession made 2023 almost bearable. I didn’t include Red, White & Royal Blue, or Barbie, sure me. If you don’t trust me, OutSFL has its list and Attitude too.

2023 LGBTQ+ Books: I am in the middle of Raquel Willis’ extraordinary memoir and then will read the Elliott Page one. But, and it might be surprising, I just read this memoir by Ryan Ubuntu Olson, who I knew in my DC days, and it was fascinating. Like every Queer story, it is at times heartbreaking and relating, but mostly, it gave me a window into what it was like to grow up gay in the 90s in America.

2023 Coming Out: NBC listed the 19 celebrities who came out this year. I don’t know any of these people; I blame my kids for not keeping me up-to-date.

Other Pop Culture and Representation: Significant moments in 2023 included the debut of Trans Barbie, NBA's first out nonbinary trans referee, historic trans and nonbinary representation at the Grammys.

And also:

• Gay of the Year: I would say Sam Altman of OpenAI, Artificial Intelligence accessible by the layman, was one the most extraordinary developments of 2023.

• George Santos occupied US headlines this year as he burst into flames. But Fox News could not have been less interested but instead could not let go of Sam Brinton. Santos monetized his downfall immediately because it’s America, but Brinton hasn’t. I suggest a partnership with Rimowa on an LGBTQ+ luggage line. The Community was somewhat insensitive to the fact that honesty can be very elusive for LGBTQ+ people. The New York Times gave Santos more coverage than he deserved, but that quote did not age well:

  Don't let anybody tell you it's not your turn to go to Congress. I didn't wait for my goddamn turn. I never served in a single local elected position.

• Poland's Ecclesiastical Scandal: The Bishop’s 'orgy' was more of a bland foursome when you compared it with parties organized by Abercrombie & Fitch’s ex-CEO, but I guess the bar is different for priests.

• Ozempic: Every gay person is on Ozempic besides me.

• Jennifer Coolidge got a social impact award for White Lotus; she said: “Here I am again surrounded by gays. Wow, it’s the story of my life.”

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Those who left us

Heklina, a San Francisco drag performer and a pillar of the city’s LGBTQ+ community, died in April at 54; Jeff Thomas, Gay model and former boyfriend of Peter Thiel, died in March at 35; Darcelle XV, the World’s oldest working drag queen, at 92 also in March. We lost many allies Tina Turner in May at 83​​ and Sinéad O’Connor in July at 56, Pf. Montagnier, HIV researcher, at 90 in February. Them also reported that more than 300 trans people were murdered in 2023.

In DC, the tragic and unexplained passing of Tarik Pierce and Jocko Fajardo shocked the local community. These two pillars of the community died within two weeks of each other in July at age 45. Next door, in Philly, activist and journalist Josh Kruger was murdered at age 39.

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On the Substack Controversy

This week, the New York Times reported on Substack’s stance on not banning extremist content on the platform “so long as newsletter writers do not incite violence.” This decision, evoking the First Amendment, is a cop-out. I believe in free speech and protecting the one I stand against, but I do not believe in providing platforms to spread and monetize it. Other platforms like Facebook have developed complex moderation policies. Facebook even has an Oversight Board to advise on ‘the most difficult and significant decisions around content.’ Substack has a clear responsibility to limit hate speech on its platform. All that to say, I am going to explore the possibility of other platforms, but I would love your vote (see below), and you can also comment further using this survey.

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Well, that’s pretty much it for this 2023 retrospective. I am sure I forgot many 2023 developments, and I apologize in advance. Sorry also for the delay in sending this week’s newsletter; I blame the holidays. I am off the grid again, but I hope you are also taking a break (by the way, check out this blasphemous same-sex nativity scene). Thank you for all your support in 2023. Stay tuned for the Crystal Ball predictions next week!