This week: a bad rap for the Maldives, Taiwan WorldPride canceled, Disney’s quarterly earnings, a queer Nasdaq, “social infertility”, the Rachel Maddow interview, and much more…
Fabrice Houdart | A weekly newsletter on LGBTQ+ Equality
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.
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As you read this line, I am making my way through Disneyland California (not Florida, I have principles;)) with the twins. Wish me luck, I’ll need it.
Global News
Maldives: a nosedive into barbarism
HRW reports that three men were arrested for gay sex on July 28th, including a police officer and the brother of a former president and current speaker of parliament. The politically motivated arrests are a terrible look for a country relying heavily on the tourism sector. The country which markets itself as a safe holiday destination, owing to its "one island, one resort" set-up, is in the news for all the wrong reasons.
Vatican: the mysterious visit with the Pope
While it made the headlines this week, not much is known about the meeting between Pope Francis and a group of transgender people. The media systematically reiterates the same 2013 line of “Who am I to judge?” which by now feels a bit hollow. I wish I could still surf on my 2013 talking points. However, the articles also acknowledged the Pope’s important support for Fr. James Martin's groundbreaking Outreach initiative. In the Church, the real action is in the trenches.
Taiwan: WorldPride 2025 canceled
The event’s cancellation is a geopolitical loss in my opinion. WorldPride would have been such a great opportunity to show China that you can’t roll back LGBTQ+ rights! Taiwan on Friday blamed InterPride’s "political considerations'' for the cancellation after it said the organizers had insisted the word "Taiwan" be removed from the name. I might be naive but who at InterPride cares about “One China”? Read about it on CNN.
Egypt: COP at Sharm el-Sheikh
Since FIFA selected Qatar for the World Cup and the WEF seriously considered hosting the World Economic Forum in Singapore, it has become fashionable to hold international gatherings in hotspots for human rights violations. I am surprised the UN General Assembly this September will still take place in New York and not Ocala, Florida. COP 27 is supposed to be convened in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 6 – 18 November. As you can imagine, not everybody likes the idea given al-Sisi’s political instrumentalization of homosexuals. Read about it on 76Crimes.
France: gay couple gives monkeypox to their greyhound
I am not sure this story does not belong in the “Semi-Cultural section. Read about it here.
US News
Becca Balint won big in her Vermont Primary
Becca Balint, the lesbian candidate I had dinner with last month in Vermont has won her primary. Balint, a Vermont state senator who also serves as the state’s Senate president pro tempore, romped to victory over Lt. Gov. Molly Gray in the Democratic primary for Vermont’s sole U.S. House seat. She won big. We are talking 2 to 1. If elected, she will make history, as she will be the first woman and first out queer person to represent the state in Congress. Read about the exceptional Becca here.
Being transparent about Gay people’s fertility needs
This article and study discuss the often taboo world of gay men's fertility treatments. One aspect that I found striking as a father of twins myself, is that it discusses how the decision of implanting two embryos is often based on financial needs. The doctor interviewed believes better insurance coverage for fertility care for LGBTQ+ people would affect gay men’s decision to go for an option that places the surrogate at a higher risk. Read about it here. The concept of “social infertility” while not mentioned in the article, is increasingly discussed as the six-figure cost makes parenting a privilege for the gay elite.
The endless discussion on monkeypox narrative
While our health needs are clearly not met, the discussion on rhetoric and language is still occupying lots of space in online forums with questions like; Is monkeypox a gay disease? Can we ask gay men to be abstinent? Is MSM the right term? Or LGBTQIA2SNB+? How to include the realities of trans people and bi individuals? Read this piece on whether we can talk about sex and stigma.
Queer parents rushing To complete second-parent adoptions
Right after the overturn of Roe v. Wade at the end of June, which included a cameo from Justice Clarence Thomas in his concurring opinion, that following Roe, the court “should reconsider” other cases involving the right to privacy, including the 2015 Obergefell decision that legalized same-sex marriage, queer parents are taking action to secure legal custody of their children. Read more in the Huffington Post.
Harvard: dealing with homophobic letters
LGBTQ+ faculty and student leadership in the prestigious University received a letter this week threatening violence signed by the Harvard Straight Pride. Read about it in the Crimson.
The Boardroom
Our creative way to scrape Nasdaq's Board Diversity Matrices
We launched a contest last week asking our friends to help us identify the largest number of Nasdaq companies that disclosed LGBTQ+ Board members in their “board diversity matrix” online or in their proxy statements. The winner will receive swag and an invitation to the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors' launch dinner in NYC. The contest is open until we reach 122 seats (which is equivalent to 0.5% of the seats (assuming the 3,500 Nasdaq companies have an average of 7 board seats). You can see our current list here.
Queer Business
Disney is fine, thank you for asking!
Despite the 'LGBTQ+ agenda' Bob Chapek is reluctantly forcing on families and children and multiple calls for a boycott, Disney reported excellent quarterly earnings last week. Its higher operating results reflected increases at domestic parks and experiences and, to a lesser extent, at international parks and resorts (Shanghai is still shaky). Read about it in Variety. I am contributing to these profits in California as we speak.
Being queer in the gaming industry
Surveys routinely show that queer gamers suffer severe harassment based on their sexual orientation and gender identities on gaming platforms. From time to time I eavesdrop on my kids’ Oculus experience and it’s not good. Earlier, this year I had reached out to Stanley Pierre-Louis of the Entertainment Software Association, the game industry's lobbying group. Pierre-Louis never responded showing a complete lack of interest in addressing homophobia and transphobia in the industry. Last week, The Guardian wrote about how gamers and employees are making room for themselves in the toxic industry.
From the semi-cultural desk
Bros is out on September 20th
Bros is the upcoming gay romantic comedy that everybody is impatiently waiting for. You can watch the trailer here. Even the New York Times seems enthralled.
Vanity Fair encapsulates our frustration with queer TV
In the same vein, in the September issue of Vanity Fair, Richard Lawson explains why the plethora of queer TV has left us with a “constant craving.”
“To let us off the hook a little bit, this exacting inspection of every product off the queer assembly line may be born of being denied such meaningful representation for so long.”
A League Of Their Own: beautifully lesbian
The series about a female baseball league in the 50s is on Prime Video and everybody loves it. So maybe the real problem is gay men, as usual. Watch the trailer here.
The Rustin Bayard biopic
Bob Witeck drew our attention to a Netflix movie in the works about gay African-American civil rights activist Rustin Bayard. The movie is being developed by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, with a screenplay by Dustin Lance Black. Release date: 2023. Read about it here.
If you liked Less: “Less is lost” is coming out next month
Greer is tempting destiny by publishing a sequel to Less, Less is lost. This time middle-aged writer Arthur Less is traveling across the US, hoping to raise money to salvage his home with partner Freddy Pelu. If we learned anything from Uncoupled, middle-aged Gay men always come back to you (possibly scared away from the dark rooms by monkeypox?).
“Other names for love”
For the last two weeks of August, almost no work is done in Corporate America. And yet, determined not to be decadent Europeans, very few take vacations. Therefore I strongly suggest you use your free time at your desk to read Taymour Soomro’s “Other Names for Love.” The book - with a gay thread - is about a Pakistani teenager sent abroad to be educated who does not want to come back. Read the New York Times review here.
The Rachel Maddow interview
Staying with Vanity Fair’s September issue (guess what I was reading this weekend in a Hudson hammock), Rachel Maddow’s interview felt a lot like a National Geographic feature on ice-fishing. In the middle, I loved that she discusses her history of depression - something which often remains taboo. If you don’t care about the article, at least have a glance at the pics.
Peter Thiel’s new dating app
Apparently, Peter Thiel is backing a new conservative dating app, which won’t offer gay matching. Anyway, gay conservatives are becoming more elusive than Dijon mustard lately: it might be explained by the fact that the log cabin republicans compared the raid on Mar-a-Lago to Stonewall (From The Advocate).
Coming and going
The passing of Anne Heche
The weight of mental health challenges and the price paid by out LGBTQ+ pioneers were two key influences in Anne Heche’s life. The actress, and former partner of Ellen, died in a car crash this week. Read her necrology in the New York Times.
Imara Jones wins prestigious award
Congratulations to groundbreaking leader Imara Jones - also a member of our newly launched Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors’ Advisory Board - for a well-deserved Journalist of Distinction Award from the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ).
Lunch with Midnight of APCOM
On Friday, I grabbed lunch at Bodrum in the UWS with Midnight Poonkasetwattana who was returning from an uneventful AIDS Conference in Montreal. Indeed, very few medical advances were presented even though 650,000 people died of HIV in 2021. Midnight was also a Grand Marshal of the 2022 edition of Montreal Pride.
David Mixner’s birthday: 50+ years of activism
And if you forgot (we didn’t!), yesterday was David Mixner’s birthday. An amazing life dedicated to civil and gay rights. First, you should subscribe to his amazing podcast (this week he interviewed New York Congressional Candidate Josh Riley) and second consider donating to the David Mixner ICWA fellowship which I set up last year to honor him. The prestigious writing fellowship is half-way fundraised.
London LGBTQ Community Centre in search for Trustees
The London LGBTQ Community Centre is looking for two new trustees - including the Chair. to join their team (UK-based). Here is the link.
Our other contest: 70 over 70
We are still in the process of compiling names of the 70 over 70 who are making a difference in our movement. You can find the current list here and add names (we currently are at 54 over 70).
The Gay Agenda
August 25th: OPEN Finance in NYC
LGBTQ+ in the New York financial industry meet on August 25th at Skorpios at 6:00 pm. Register here.
September 15th/16th LGBTIQ data-driven roundtable in Barbados
UniBAM, ECADE, Colours Caribbean, and Eolas Consulting, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and USAID, are hosting a Roundtable on a Caribbean Regional Dialogue on LGBTQ+ D.A.T.A. (Driving Analytical, Transformative Action). This event intends to be a structured dialogue on meaningful policies on LGBTQ+ economic inclusion – and other forms of inclusion – in the Caribbean region. You can contact Phil Crehan for more information. Let me know if you need Phil's contact details.
September 17th: EuroPride March in Belgrade
First, there will be the human rights conference taking place between 13-16 September in Belgrade, Serbia. The EuroPride March is scheduled for 17 September. Our friends at East Meets West are hosting a specific Business session. You can visit the EuroPride website here.