As part of the campaign, HRC created a microsite that features comprehensive information regarding the issues LGBTQ people face around HIV and sexual health, such as: safe sex and beating the odds, debunking myths about HIV, a safe sex guide for trans bodies, LGBTQ mental health services, and informtion on HIV/AIDS employment discrimination.
To complement the microsite, HRC assembled the My Body, My Health toolkit for the six partner organizations, which is designed to increase visibility and awareness of HIV prevention and treatment tools in their regional communities. The toolkit includes a variety of graphics, animations, videos, sample messages and marketing guidance. Additionally, each community-based organization will receive advertisement support via digital media campaigns with produced original photography and video content that focuses on the experiences of LGBTQ people of color.
In the lead up to National HIV Testing Day on June 27, and in partnership with Us Helping Us, the campaign will provide the first-of-its-kind in-home HIV testing kits so people can take control of their sexual health without having to visit a medical provider. Usually, HIV testing is done with a doctor, in a hospital, or at a community health clinic but due to lack of access to healthcare and HIV stigma, marginalized populations often do not receive testing. The in-home testing kits aim to specifically address those disparities by empowering people to learn their status.
PARIS (AP) — Six French athletes have spoken about being gay and shared difficult experiences they had during their formative years.
A documentary by Canal Plus called “Faut qu’on parle” (We have to talk) interviewed three women and three men.
Basketball player Celine Dumerc, fencer Astrid Guyart, and judoka Amandine Buchard remembered fears they had about their sexuality when growing up. The sentiments were shared by men’s skating champion Kevin Aymoz, rugby player Jeremy Clamy-Edroux, and former Olympic swimming champion Jeremy Stravius.
The 38-year-old Dumerc, who starred for France when it finished 2012 Olympic basketball runner-up, explained how she felt in her early years.
“You’re not sure what’s happening, you become attracted to someone who’s the same sex as you,” she said. “Then you start getting on really well and things start going a bit further. There are intimate moments.”
But Dumerc was distressed by some people’s perceptions.
“You hear all sorts of things like, ‘It’s an illness, it’s in the genes,’” Dumerc recalled. “You hear 20,000 absurd things.”
Guyart is the same age as Dumerc: “I was 18 or 19 and fell in love with a woman who was older,” she said.
One relationship was painful because her partner did not want to say she was gay.
“I wasn’t ashamed, but the person I was with was,” Guyart said. “That’s not a great way to build your identity and to envisage a loving relationship. It was destructive, in that sense.”
Guyart and Dumerc said they invented boyfriends’ names, including precise details such as birthdays, to hide they had girlfriends.
Buchard became European judo champion this year and said she needs to talk.
“I want to open up,” she said. “I think it will do me some good.”
Things were very painful growing up.
“I got close to a girl, and we would see each other from time to time. For me it felt really strange, because at the time I was going out with a boy,” Buchard said. “I was very scared, I cried a lot and shut myself away. For years I grew up (in an environment) where it was really badly thought of to be with a girl.”
Clamy-Edroux is a professional rugby player with second-tier Rouen. He said his upbringing “as a West Indian and a Catholic” made him scared to tell anyone how he felt.
“It was inconceivable (to be gay), it had to be a boy with a girl,” he said. “You want to please your loved ones, your parents. But you’re not being yourself.”
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Speaking now about being gay felt easy.
“It’s just telling the truth,” he said.
Stravius experienced glory as the 2011 world champion in backstroke. A year later he won Olympic gold for France in a relay.
His focus has turned to helping others who may be reluctant to say they’re gay.
“To open doors, for me and for others,” he said.
The 32-year-old Stravius has some harrowing memories of his school days.
“I tried by all means to show everyone I was a hetero(sexual).”
That meant reproaching himself for his feelings.
“I thought, ‘Why has this fallen on me?’ When girls walked past I didn’t really look at them, but when boys did, yes,” he recalled. “I told myself ‘You’re not a homo(sexual). Just concentrate on girls and things will change, you’ll see.’ I forced myself to go out with a girl. … But after three or four days I couldn’t do it anymore.”
The 23-year-old Aymoz is a four-time French figure skating champion.
“I know I’m doing something that’s good in helping to free up speech,” he said.
___
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FILE – In this Aug.9, 2016 file photo, France’s Jeremy Stravius looks disappointed after a men’s 100-meter freestyle heat during the swimming competitions at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Six French athletes have spoken about being gay and shared difficult experiences they had during their formative years, among them is Jeremy Stravius.
FILE – In this Aug.26, 2019 file photo, Natalia Kuziutina of Russia, left, competes against Amandine Buchard of France during a women’s -52 kilogram semi-final of the World Judo Championships in Tokyo, Monday. Six French athletes have spoken about being gay and shared difficult experiences they had during their formative years, among them Amandine Buchard.
FILE – In this April 16, 2021 file photo France’s Kevin Aymoz performs during the men’s free skating program of the ISU World Team Trophy figure skating competition in Osaka, western Japan. Six French athletes have spoken about being gay and shared difficult experiences they had during their formative years, among them Kevin Aymoz.
PARIS (AP) — Six French athletes have spoken about being gay and shared difficult experiences they had during their formative years.
A documentary by Canal Plus called “Faut qu’on parle” (We have to talk) interviewed three women and three men.
Basketball player Celine Dumerc, fencer Astrid Guyart, and judoka Amandine Buchard remembered fears they had about their sexuality when growing up. The sentiments were shared by men’s skating champion Kevin Aymoz, rugby player Jeremy Clamy-Edroux, and former Olympic swimming champion Jeremy Stravius.
The 38-year-old Dumerc, who starred for France when it finished 2012 Olympic basketball runner-up, explained how she felt in her early years.
“You’re not sure what’s happening, you become attracted to someone who’s the same sex as you,” she said. “Then you start getting on really well and things start going a bit further. There are intimate moments.”
But Dumerc was distressed by some people’s perceptions.
“You hear all sorts of things like, ‘It’s an illness, it’s in the genes,’” Dumerc recalled. “You hear 20,000 absurd things.”
Guyart is the same age as Dumerc: “I was 18 or 19 and fell in love with a woman who was older,” she said.
One relationship was painful because her partner did not want to say she was gay.
“I wasn’t ashamed, but the person I was with was,” Guyart said. “That’s not a great way to build your identity and to envisage a loving relationship. It was destructive, in that sense.”
Guyart and Dumerc said they invented boyfriends’ names, including precise details such as birthdays, to hide they had girlfriends.
Buchard became European judo champion this year and said she needs to talk.
“I want to open up,” she said. “I think it will do me some good.”
Things were very painful growing up.
“I got close to a girl, and we would see each other from time to time. For me it felt really strange, because at the time I was going out with a boy,” Buchard said. “I was very scared, I cried a lot and shut myself away. For years I grew up (in an environment) where it was really badly thought of to be with a girl.”
Clamy-Edroux is a professional rugby player with second-tier Rouen. He said his upbringing “as a West Indian and a Catholic” made him scared to tell anyone how he felt.
“It was inconceivable (to be gay), it had to be a boy with a girl,” he said. “You want to please your loved ones, your parents. But you’re not being yourself.”
Speaking now about being gay felt easy.
“It’s just telling the truth,” he said.
Stravius experienced glory as the 2011 world champion in backstroke. A year later he won Olympic gold for France in a relay.
His focus has turned to helping others who may be reluctant to say they’re gay.
“To open doors, for me and for others,” he said.
The 32-year-old Stravius has some harrowing memories of his school days.
“I tried by all means to show everyone I was a hetero(sexual).”
That meant reproaching himself for his feelings.
“I thought, ‘Why has this fallen on me?’ When girls walked past I didn’t really look at them, but when boys did, yes,” he recalled. “I told myself ‘You’re not a homo(sexual). Just concentrate on girls and things will change, you’ll see.’ I forced myself to go out with a girl. … But after three or four days I couldn’t do it anymore.”
The 23-year-old Aymoz is a four-time French figure skating champion.
“I know I’m doing something that’s good in helping to free up speech,” he said.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Queen Anne of Great Britain, 1665-1714 Friends since childhood, Queen Anne was known for her close relationship and reported romance with Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. Famous for telling the Queen exactly what she thought with zero flattery, the Duchess had the Queen’s ear when it came to matters of politics, influencing her on behalf of her husband, the Duke. They even had pet names for each other: Mrs Morley (Anne) and Mrs Freeman (Sarah). The Duchess’s fall from favour, following the introduction of her cousin Abigail Hill to the Queen’s household, was depicted in Oscar-winning film, The Favourite, starring Olivia Colman as the Queen, Rachel Weisz as the Duchess and Emma Stone as Abigail.
Milwaukee, Wisc. – The U.S. military is often seen as stable and unwavering – standing the test of time as society, politics, and attitudes change. This does not mean, however, that the Air Force is unwilling to grow with its members. Chaplain (Maj.) Kendra L. McIntosh knows this well.
One poignant example of the military’s growth is reflected in Chaplain McIntosh’s ability to now serve as an openly gay woman.
“I joined the Air force in 1988 because I wanted to serve my country and fly,” said McIntosh. “I was interested in space, and had a degree in aerospace engineering from University of Kansas. I commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant just one day after graduating college.”
During her active duty time in service, Chaplain McIntosh served as a senior navigator for the KC-135. Throughout her flying career, Chaplain McIntosh flew combat, combat-support, humanitarian airlift, test flight, medical-evacuation, and training sorties. She was assigned to six different bases, participated in eight deployments, and earned numerous awards and decorations. Though her career was meritorious and remarkable, McIntosh knew there was more in store for her.
“I knew it was time for me to wrap up my military career in combat and combat support around the time I earned my master’s degree,” said McIntosh. “In the six months following my active time in service, I found the path to ordination and began seminary school in the fall of 2000.”
Chaplain McIntosh was ordained an Episcopal Priest in 2004. She spent eight years in parish ministry in the city of New York prior to considering chaplaincy. Her career as a chaplain began with Clinical Pastoral Education at the Kansas City VA Medical Center.
While Chaplain McIntosh cherished her time in active service, there were aspects of her life she felt she was not able to fully explore until she had left the service.
In her late teens and twenties, McIntosh complied with expectations of her family and her midwestern roots. In her thirties, she was divorced and enjoying a successful career – and questioned her sexuality.
“I was not ‘out and open’ while serving, but also was not dating women while I was serving active duty,” said McIntosh. “I didn’t have the freedom to date or explore relationships with women while I was serving during that time.”
Homosexual discrimination in the United States military can be traced back as far as the end of the first World War with revisions that were added as part of The Articles of War of 1916. The following decades would yield more policies to deter same-sex relations, with homosexuality itself becoming explicitly criminalized in 1982. In 1993, the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was issued by the Clinton Administration and altered previous language to state that service members would not be asked about their sexual orientation, but would still be discharged for disclosing it.
“It was difficult enough in the 1990s, especially for competent women in the military,” said McIntosh. “I didn’t really explore my sexuality until leaving the service because of the scrutiny and non-acceptance.”
The time McIntosh spent after separating from active duty fulfilled her in many ways, but many people in her life encouraged her to consider rejoining. The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy was a major deterrent for McIntosh, however, as she had now ‘come out’ as lesbian.
“The repeal of policy was a requirement of mine before getting back in uniform,” said McIntosh. “There is no way I would have gotten back in if I wouldn’t have been able to bring my whole self to this.”
The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy was finally repealed in 2011. In 2013, spousal and family benefits were extended to same-sex married partners, marking more strides towards equality for service members who identified as gay, lesbian, and bisexual.
McIntosh recognized this new change in policy, and decided to rejoin the service in 2012, this time as a chaplain for the Indiana Air National Guard. In 2016, Chaplain McIntosh joined the Wisconsin Air National Guard. During this time, McIntosh met her wife.
“When we started getting serious, I wasn’t sure how it (our relationship) would be accepted on base. What I found was a lot of support when I came on base after we got married,” said McIntosh. “Everyone was just thrilled and asked about the ceremony and my wife and when everyone was going to be able to meet her. They offered tons of congrats.”
Now, Chaplain McIntosh lives as a citizen Airman, working full-time as the Chief Chaplain at the St. Cloud VA Health Care System in Minnesota and serving as a traditional guardsman. She thinks her experience makes her a valuable resource to the Airmen around her.
“I think being an ‘out’ lesbian helps other gay or lesbian service members. I have been able to help members of my unit determine how their faith and their sexuality intersect,” said McIntosh. “I am able to bring my whole person to my chaplaincy and to my service, and that, in turn, expands the reach of who we can support as a chaplain corps, as a base, and a wing.”
Col. Adria Zuccaro, 128th Air Refueling Wing Commander, has made it a priority of hers to promote diversity with their ranks.
“My expectation is that Airmen should be able to come to work, do their job and be accepted as a teammate,” said Zuccaro. “It’s the mission that binds us. Our differences when accepted make us stronger.
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) recognizes June as Pride Month, celebrating the history of LGBTQ service members who have bravely served and sacrificed in the U.S. military.
“I find it hard to believe — I actually don’t believe that,” Wrabel tells Bustle while shaking his head upon learning his music was streamed 83 million times by 14 million listeners in 92 countries on Spotify in 2020. Those numbers are staggering for anyone, let alone an artist who hasn’t released his debut album. To achieve this feat, the 32-year-old has racked up streams with singles (like “11 Blocks” and “Ten Feet Tall” ) and several EPs, and he’s worked as an in-demand songwriter over the years for Pink, Kesha, Louis Tomlinson, Backstreet Boys, Ben Platt, and other musicians.
Along the way to tens of millions of streams, Wrabel has faced painful setbacks, including leaving two major label deals and walking into rehab twice to get sober. But none of that has deterred him from persevering, which seems to be a running theme in his life. From breakups to industry bullshit to finding his true self while growing up in a religious community, Wrabel has had to fight to find joy and learn to be comfortable with who he is.
I carry my gayness everywhere I go. … It defines me. It’s the lens through which I see the world. It’s my capacity to love. It colors everything I do with wonderful Technicolor.
Wrabel’s ambitions seem pure. Getting to tour, write songs, and finally release the album he’s been honing for a decade (These Words Are All For Youdue out Sept. 24)and to do so as his authentic self, it’s all enough to make him truly happy.
Fans recently got the first taste of that happiness via “Nothing But The Love,” the first single from his upcoming album. “I started this song sitting on my couch with my guitar at the end of last year. Listening to the record I felt one very important thing was missing — a love song,” Wrabel, born Stephen Wrabel, said when he released the song. “I’m not sure why it’s harder to write a happy song than a sad song, even when I’m happy. Hah! Well, I’m in love and I couldn’t let this record come out without something that celebrates that.”
Below, Wrabel talks about falling in love, accepting himself, having kids, getting married, and being inspired to write “The Village” because of two transgender fans.
Wrabel Q&A
What advice would you give to your 16-year-old self?
Don’t do drugs? As cliche as it sounds, I feel like I would just tell him it’s going to be OK, even though you have no idea how on earth it’s going to be. Whatever it is, it’s going to be OK. I felt so alone and so other, and so not normal as so many people do within the LGBTQ community. Some of my best friends in the world, who are like on the straight and narrow as I call it, they still felt that and they still carry that with them. I think I would just tell him you’re going to find yourself. You’re going to find people who are like you. You’ll make it out of the suffocating loud around you.
Where do you see yourself 16 years from now?
At a really basic level I hope I’m still writing songs. I have no idea how to predict the future. There are so many things that I had planned when I moved out to Los Angeles 11 years ago. I thought so many things were gonna happen in a certain way, in a certain order, at a certain time … and basically none of those things happened in the way that I thought they would. But then all these incredible things happened that I never, ever could have predicted. I try to leave a lot of room for surprise. I hope in 16 years I still carry that. Maybe I hope I have a kid or two or three. I hope I have a wedding ring. That would be fun, but again, I’ve learned not to try to plan too much.
What are your proudest moments as a member of the LGBTQ+ community?
The first thing that comes to my mind is the day I came out, which was, for me, a really kind of dark day. I came out in a church, so it was a really weird sort of admission. In hindsight, I can see I had broken into this path that I didn’t even know existed. That eventually led me to where and who I am now. Some of my proudest moments are something as simple as being on stage somewhere and looking out and seeing people singing along to a song that I wrote. Every time I am astonished, because I thought life was going to be over when I came out. I thought no one would accept me. Then when I came out in my professional life, it was a whole ’nother feeling of like, well, now everyone’s going to know that all my songs are gay songs. I am gay. I carry my gayness everywhere I go. When I’m on stage and when people are clapping, I’m like, they’re clapping for something I just did! That is kind of crazy. And that was gay! It defines me. It’s the lens through which I see the world. It’s my capacity to love. It colors everything I do with wonderful Technicolor.
The proudest moments are sometimes really small. Meeting someone at a meet and greet and them saying, “I look up to you,” and I’m immediately sobbing because I don’t even know how it happened. Going back to that 16-year-old self and being like, “You made it, kid! You’re out of the closet, you’re in love. You found people that celebrate you and more importantly, you’ve accepted yourself. You’re not scared of what you want to wear or the sound of your voice.”
Where and how are you celebrating Pride this year?
My first in-person show is a Pride show at the LA Coliseum, so that feels really cool. I say yes to pretty much anything that has to do with anything LGBTQ, anything to spread awareness, to spread hope, to celebrate. Because I know firsthand what that means to someone. This year it’s a mix between some virtual and some in-person stuff to try to lend my voice. I have a rainbow arch painted in my apartment, so it’s kind of like Pride all year around over here. God knows what it’s gonna look like, but I’m just thankful to be able to see people celebrating pride.
Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images
Who inspires you in the LGBTQ+ community?
The first people that come to mind are two people that inspired a song called “The Village” that I wrote. They were these two trans kids that I met outside of a show in Philadelphia on my first tour. I was just struck. They were just themselves in the simplest [ways]. I feel like the people that have inspired me the most didn’t try to inspire anyone.
When I came out, I remember being on a flight with one of my managers, and the article came out when Sam Smith came out. I was in my first record deal and I had come out. I remember when they came out, it was like a sigh of relief. I was so proud, even though we’ve never met, to see someone at that level … when you see someone doing something you want to do or being someone you want to be, it’s really low-key but huge. It’s aspirational. With Sam Smith, continuing to come out and continuing to leave that space for surprise and for more information and to find out more and to be willing to share that with the entire world, I think they’ve been a huge trailblazer. It’s visibility. It builds confidence for so many people.
Which LGBTQ+ charity do you love and why?
I’ve been working with LOVELOUD for a few years. I really adore everyone there. Dan [Reynolds, the frontman of the band Imagine Dragons] is … I’ve heard criticisms like, “He’s like a straight white man. What’s he doing?” First of all, we need that. And second, what other straight white man is pouring their hearts [into this]? I’ve seen him speak so many times and I’ve gotten to know him. He’s a beautiful man. He said, “I’m a pretty wealthy white, straight man, and I saw something that broke my heart and I wanted to do something about it.” God! We need that. To see how he pulls his whole network together is really beautiful.
Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons and LOVELOUD.
Alexandre Schneider/Jerod Harris/Getty Images
GLAAD, Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor Project. One that really stands out to me is Encircle, based in Salt Lake City. I met Stephanie [Larsen], the CEO, and she brought me to tears. She’s just a mother from the Mormon community and to see when someone doesn’t go through something, but takes on that and then they see it and it breaks their heart just as much as it breaks my heart. They build these safe houses throughout the community where kids can go and get resources, get help [for their] mental health.
I grew up in the church. I know what it feels like to have everyone turn away from you and tell you of your eternal damnation. A cause that feels heaviest for me is anything that has to do with religion and queerness, because I’ve seen firsthand what that does when someone takes the voice of God and uses it against someone. I think to me, that’s one of the truest evils in the entire world. I’ve gotten to meet people that work at the houses and the kids that go there and their parents, just trying to help their kids. It’s those moments where I’m like, this is why I make the music, so I can get into this room and talk to these people. This is why I do … anything.
There are three rules to apply: The idea must be about the arts; the project must take place in, or benefit, South Florida; and awardees must match the Knight Foundation’s commitment.
The process starts simply, Ganuza says, with a 150-word proposal: “Just 150 words, which doesn’t require a massive investment of energy to submit.”
Then, if the submission is accepted to move forward, prospective awardees are asked to write a full proposal.
Ganuza recalls being on the other side of this process. When he was production director of Miami Beach’s the Rhythm Foundation, more than $100,000 in Knight funds helped expand its Big Night in Little Haiti concert series.
“The very first grant that I successfully received as a grant writer was the Knight Arts Challenge program,” he says. “I didn’t know anything about grants or nonprofit funding before being exposed to the Arts Challenge.
“Now, becoming the administrator of the Challenge, it’s all gone full circle.”
The biennial granting initiative this year will award $2 million to finance ideas from creatives in Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Broward counties. Applications may be submitted at the Knight Foundation’s website from July 1 through 11:59 p.m. July 31.
Kunya C. Rowley, an opera singer and actor, says it was never a dream of his to start an organization, but the kickstart of a $20,000 award in 2017 for his proposal, “Hued Songs of Strength and Freedom,” led to Hued Songs becoming a full-fledged organization. Incorporated in 2019, it is now a Florida nonprofit.
His proposal idea was to create a concert series of works by African-American composers. What spurred him to take the first step into uncharted waters of applying for a grant was the feeling of accessibility, he says.
“Very often, as artists, there is no one soliciting our ideas, especially as performing artists. Then, here’s this platform that says, ‘Tell us about your idea around arts and our community and what you would build if you had the opportunity,’ ” Rowley says.
Now, with a stated mission, Rowley said Hued Songs amplifies the work of Black and Brown artists: “It is a platform where they can be seen, heard, and paid.”
For many recipients, the Knight Arts Challenge is their first grant, Ganuza says.
“In that way, it’s a bit of a gateway grant — an opportunity for people to engage with philanthropy in a way that has a relatively low barrier,” he says.
The basic through-line since the Knight Arts Challenge began in 2008 has been: “What’s your best idea for the arts?” However, this year’s challenge has an added caveat.
Since artists and arts organizations had to adapt in many ways due to the pandemic, the foundation is interested in how they are leveraging technology to attract audiences and enhance in-person experiences.
“COVID-19 has been a major disrupter in every aspect of our lives, particularly in the arts and culture sector,” Ganuza says. “There aren’t many silver linings about this past year and a half, but there are a few lessons that artists have learned around how it is that they can create and present art in novel ways.”
The Knight Foundation wants to “support those organizations and artists that are helping to show the way forward as cities reopen,” he adds. “We want to encourage them to embrace these new forms of expression that mirror the way that audiences are now engaging in art.”
The Arts Challenge awards funds across a range of art forms, from visual arts, popular and classical music, dance, architecture, theater, film, and literature.
“The list goes on,” according to Ganuza. “There’s no project that’s too big or too small. The message is that if you have a great idea, the Knight Arts Challenge wants to know about it.”
To submit an idea for the 2021 Knight Arts Challenge, visit knightfoundation.org.
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Tinder and Bumble are launching or acquiring new services focused entirely on making friends.
The pandemic settings restructured how we work, socialise and maintain friendships. After months of isolation from the outside world, which robbed people of small talks with strangers, coffee breaks with colleague and more, the newest trend is seeking friendships on dating apps.
Now, amorous entanglements aren’t uppermost in the minds of many people emerging from long periods of pandemic isolation. Instead, they crave the friendships and social groups they have been starved of over the past year.
That’s the verdict of dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble, which are launching or acquiring new services focused entirely on making and maintaining friends.
“There’s a really interesting trend that has been taking place in the connection space, which is this desire to have platonic relationships,” said Bumble founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd.
“People are seeking friendship in ways they would have only done offline before the pandemic.”
Her company is investing in its Bumble BFF (best friends forever) feature, which it said comprised about 9% of Bumble’s total monthly active users in September 2020 and “has room to grow as we increase our focus on this space”.
Meanwhile its archrival Match Group – the owner of a string of apps including Tinder and Hinge – is also pushing beyond love and lust. It paid $1.7 billion this year for South Korean social media firm Hyperconnect, whose apps let people chat from across the world using real-time translation.
Hyperconnect’s revenue jumped 50% last year, while Meetup, which helps you meet people with similar interests at local or online events, has seen a 22% rise in new members since January.
Meetup’s most searched word this year was “friends”.
‘Friends for more than a year’
Such friendship services have experienced increased engagement from users since COVID-19 restrictions have gradually been lifted around the world, allowing people to meet in person, according to Evercore analyst Shweta Kharjuria, who said that it made sound business sense to court more customers.
“This opens up the total available market from targeting only singles to singles and married people,” she said.
The importance of physical contact was echoed by Amos, a 22-year-old French au pair using Bumble BFF in London.
“Getting the momentum going is hard online and if everything IRL (in real life) is closed,” he said. “You never really connect until you meet in person.”
Rosie, a 24-year-old dental nurse living in the city of Bristol in southwestern England, struggled to connect with her older co-workers during the lockdown and began using Bumble BFF three weeks ago to meet new people.
“I’m a very sociable person and like meeting new people, but never found the opportunities. I’ve gone from having just Vodafone texting me to this app buzzing quite a bit, which is nice, it seems a lot of girls are in my position.”
Nupur, a 25-year-old teacher from the city of Pune in western India who uses both Tinder and Bumble, said the apps’ efforts to promote themselves as a way of finding friends rather than just hook-ups and love “could work very well”.
“I’ve met a couple of people online and we’ve met up and have been friends for more than a year now.”
Indeed friend-making networks such as MeetMe and Yubo have even outstripped some popular dating apps in terms of daily engagement over the past few months, according to market research firm Apptopia.
Jess Carbino, an online dating expert and former sociologist for Tinder and Bumble, told Reuters that social isolation had been “staggering” due to the pandemic, particularly for single people living alone.
“(This) has inspired people to use the tools available to them, namely technology, to find companionship and connection.”
‘Trends are here to stay’
Gay dating app Hornet’s founder and CEO Christof Wittig said it was unlikely that people would revert to the “old ways” of connecting with their community exclusively offline, such as through nightlife, activism or LGBTQ sports events.
Witting said the number of users tapping the newsfeed, comments and videos rose 37% in the year to May.
He said the number of people looking for friendship and community online had increased during lockdowns and “these trends are here to stay.
“Just like video conferencing and telecommuting,” he said.
FILE – In this Friday, May 7, 2021 filer, Italian lawmaker Alessandro Zan paints a bench in the colors of the rainbow, in Milan, Italy. The Vatican has formally opposed proposed Italian legislation that seeks expand anti-discrimination protections to people who are gay and transgender, along with women and people with disabilities, the leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Tuesday. Activists immediately denounced Vatican meddling in the Italian legislative process as “unprecedented. Italian politicians and activist groups reacted strongly to what they see as an attempt to derail the so-called Zan Law, named for a Democratic Party lawmaker and gay rights activist Alessandro Zan. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
FILE – In this Saturday, May 8, 2021 file photo, people gather to support the so-called Zan Law, named for a Democratic Party lawmaker and gay rights activist Alessandro Zan. The Vatican has formally opposed proposed Italian legislation that seeks expand anti-discrimination protections to people who are gay and transgender, along with women and people with disabilities, the leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Tuesday. Activists immediately denounced Vatican meddling in the Italian legislative process as “unprecedented.” Italian politicians and activist groups reacted strongly to what they see as an attempt to derail the so-called Zan Law. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
FILE – In this Monday, Oct. 1, 2018 filer, The Holy See Secretary of State Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher addresses the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, at U.N. headquarters. The Vatican has formally opposed proposed Italian legislation that seeks expand anti-discrimination protections to people who are gay and transgender, along with women and people with disabilities, the leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Tuesday. The Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, sent a letter last week to the Italian ambassador to the Holy See saying that the contents of the proposed law violate Italy’s diplomatic agreement with the Vatican, seeking changes, Corriere reported. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
MILAN (AP) — The Vatican has formally opposed a proposed Italian law expanding anti-discrimination protections to the LGBT community, a leading Italian newspaper reported Tuesday. Activists immediately denounced the move as “unprecedented” Vatican meddling in Italy’s legislative process.
The Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, sent a letter last week to the Italian ambassador to the Holy See saying the proposed law violates Italy’s diplomatic agreement with the Vatican and seeking changes, the Milan-based daily Corriere della Sera reported.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni confirmed that a diplomatic communication had been sent on June 17 but did not elaborate.
According to Corriere, the Vatican’s objections include parts of the law that would require schools as well as Catholic schools to organize activities on a day designated nationally to fight homophobia and transphobia.
Italian politicians and advocacy groups reacted strongly to what they saw as an attempt to derail the Zan Law, named for the Democratic Party lawmaker and gay rights activist Alessandro Zan. In the past, the Vatican has objected to Italian laws legalizing abortion and divorce and backed unsuccessful referendums after the fact to try to repeal them.
The proposed law adds women and people who are gay, transgender or have disabilities to the classes of those protected under a law banning discrimination and punishing hate crimes. It was approved by the lower house last November, but remains stalled in a Senate commission by objections from Italy’s right wing.
“We support the Zan law, and naturally we are open to dialogue,’’ on any legal issues, Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta told RAI state radio Tuesday. But he said his party wants to see the law enacted, calling it “a law of civilization.”
An atheist group in Italy protested the Vatican’s actions, saying they “violated the independence and the sovereignty of the Republic.”
“The government has the political and moral obligation to not only just resist pressure but to unilaterally denounce this unprecedented interference in state affairs,’’ the secretary of the Union of Atheists and Agnostic Rationalists, Roberto Grendene, said in a statement.
A gay-rights group, Gay Party for LGBT+ Rights, called on Premier Mario Draghi’s government to reject the Vatican’s interference “and improve the law so that it truly has, at its heart, the fight against homophobia and transphobia.”
“We find worrying the Vatican meddling in the law against homophobia,” said the group’s spokesman, Fabrizio Marrazzo.
Marrazzo said Gay Pride Parades in Milan and Rome on Saturday would send a clear message from the streets on the topic “and defend the laicity of the state.”
June is nationally recognized as Pride Month, celebrating and supporting the LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersexed – also referred to as LGBT+) community. For mental health professionals, this month is particularly significant because strong evidence shows that LGBTQI individuals are at a higher risk for experiencing mental health conditions.
South Sound Behavioral Hospital’s’ Chief Executive Officer Terrance “TJ” O’Reilly began his new duties at the end of April. Photo credit: Nancy Krier
That’s why the professionals at South Sound Behavioral Hospital, an inpatient and outpatient psychiatric treatment facility in Lacey, join with national efforts to support awareness of the mental health issues often experienced in the LGBTQI community.
The hospital’s Chief Executive Officer Terrance “TJ” O’Reilly, appointed in April, explains that some mental health conditions are more prevalent in the LBGTQI community than in other populations and the rate of suicide is much higher. The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports data from recent research shows that diagnoses such as anxiety or depression occur in LGBTQI adults at a rate twice that of heterosexual adults.
SSBH staff see that reality in the local area. “Gender identity and the family issues leading to depression and anxiety caused by grief or transitioning, we see a lot of that in our community,” says SSBH Community Liaison Julietta Faria.
South Sound Behavioral Hospital located at Woodland Square Loop in Lacey offers inpatient and outpatient mental health and detox treatment. Photo credit: Nancy Krier
O’Reilly concurs that issues with a family’s non-acceptance of a person’s gender or sexual identity can lead to depression and anxiety. “We help anyone and everyone who has these issues,” O’Reilly says. “We help anybody who has any form of mental illness.”
Thankfully, people are more likely to seek mental health treatment today than in years past says O’Reilly. “What’s happening today is there is a de-stigmatizing of asking for help,” O’Reilly says. “We are all human. Asking for help is actually a strength, not a weakness.”
SSBH’s website suggests steps to “Be the Difference” for LGBTQI individuals who may need support and help. Those steps encourage attending virtual Pride Month events, practicing mental health self-care and connecting with loved ones. Finding someone to talk to can be key. “Being in support groups is crucial to their development,” says Faria.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness also describes that the risk factors of LGBTQI mental health conditions include coming out, rejection, trauma, substance use, homelessness, suicide and inadequate mental health care. A December 2019 article in the Psychiatric Times explains that LGBTQI individuals often face significant barriers when accessing mental health services, including discomfort or fear of disclosing sexual or gender identity.
The hospital’s living units for patients provide common areas for patient and staff interaction. Photo Credit: Nancy Krier
SSBH staff want to help with individuals struggling with their mental health, before a crisis occurs. That’s why the hospital provides a 24/7 crisis assessment at no charge. “Someone is really there or on call,” Faria says of the 24/7 service. “And someone can walk in 24/7. We want to help as many people as we can.”
Faria says the hospital also receives referrals from local providers or case managers. For example, she says the provider/manager may be assisting a gender-transitioning patient with hormone therapy and identifies a mental health issue unrelated to the medication, such as depression. “And if there is suicidal ideation, and the mental health issues are more severe, there may be inpatient treatment,” says Faria.
SSBH opened in 2019 as a secure psychiatric inpatient facility, offering acute mental health stabilization, detox and other inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment. Hospital staff operate nine units with 108 adult psychiatric inpatient beds. The hospital has an outdoor courtyard and new gym for recreational therapies. When needed, the facility also partners with community hospitals for use of SSBH’s beds for 90-day or 180-day treatments. Outpatient treatment can be done entirely remotely through our outpatient clinic.
O’Reilly says the hospital offers focused programming because medication can only do so much. The goal is to return patients back into their lives and out into the world. To provide targeted treatment, the hospital designed several specialized services. The Extra Mile Military Care program is for active members of the military and veterans. Faria says those program staff at the hospital communicate with the Madigan Army Medical Center on the Joint Base Lewis-McChord for services and treatment protocols. The hospital also provides tribal and holistic services and operates a Center for Women’s Health. The facility’s newest specialized program, which just opened in May, is the acute medical detox treatment for patients affected by drugs and alcohol.
South Sound Behavioral Hospital is preparing some of its beds for a new specialized treatment program for adolescents. More information on the adolescent program will be coming in a few months. Photo credit: Nancy Krier
And there is more to come. While SSBH currently serves adults 18 and older, O’Reilly says the next specialized treatment area on the horizon will be for adolescents. He has an extensive background in working with adolescent treatment programs and says expansion into that youth treatment will be launched in a few months. Director of Business Development Nicole Green explains they are currently working on getting those beds ready. “It’s coming,” she says. “We want to be sure we are out there on the forefront of providing inpatient and intensive outpatient services.”
South Sound Behavioral Hospital 605 Woodland Square Loop SE, Lacey 844.949.8888 (24/7)
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When artist and activist Gilbert Baker first assembled the original rainbow Pride flag, it consisted of eight colors. Since 1978, the flag has evolved with subtractions, additions, and consolidations, but always with the aim of representing the diverse and inclusive spectrum of the queer experience.
Turquoise, one of the original colors, stood for magic and art — and what better representation of those tenets than cinema? As part of its Pride Month celebration, the Pérez Art Museum Miami is hosting an evening celebrating queerness through cinema with a curated collection of films that screen Thursday, June 24, from 2 to 9 p.m.
The Pride flag served as a catalyst for programmer and artist Thom Wheeler Castillo’s selection of films.
“Baker designed the rainbow Pride flag to bring visibility to the cause while symbolizing the complexity of the queer experience,” Wheeler Castillo explains.
Representing the queer experience is a daunting task, and Wheeler Castillo carefully edited down an initial program of 30 films into a tight selection of the final five.
“Queer cinema has been defiantly active and blossoming since the late ’60s, since Stonewall,” Wheeler Castillo says. “I wanted the film program to excite and expand what pride encompasses while exploring a range of narratives and radical possibilities alive in queer imaginaries.”
The program consists of Lizzie Borden’s radical Born in Flames (1983), Sasha Wortzel’s contemplative This Is an Address (2019), Cheryl Dunye’s delightful landmark film The Watermelon Woman (1996), Gregg Araki’s angsty Totally F***ed Up (1993), and Alberta Poon’s queer love story set to Sleater-Kinney’s “Worry With You” (2021). Collectively, the films serve as an abbreviated taxonomy of the queer experience, highlighting themes Wheeler Castillo selected: manifesto, history, joyful camp, loss, and the quotidian moment, respectively.
As a manifesto, Born in Flames is an incendiary examination of radical activism in the face of oppressive systems told through multiple and intersectional points of view. It is a film that has proven itself prophetic, repeatedly and especially in light of the last year in American culture.
Cheryl Dunye’s The Watermelon Woman
Photo courtesy of First Run Features
This Is an Address manages to represent the past, present, and future by exploring themes of community and erasure through gentrification. Featuring Sylvia Rivera, the trans activist and Stonewall icon, living along the Hudson River piers as New York City drastically changes, the film is a testament to queer history.
The Watermelon Woman, recognized as the first feature film by a black lesbian filmmaker, exudes joyful humor while exploring complex race, sexuality, and representation issues in the cultural archive.
The theme of loss is explored throughout Totally F***ed Up as a group of queer adolescents shed the restrictions of their past families and form a new unit together as they overcome multiple obstacles.
The program ends with the music video for “Worry With You,” personifying the quotidian moment, which Wheeler Castillo views as a “queer love story” about “living through and surviving the uncertainty of the pandemic.” Wheeler Castillo wanted to end the program “with a love song” about getting “through the worst times together” as a nod to the perseverance of the queer community.
The cinematic program complements and supplements the museum’s ongoing Pride Tours, held every Thursday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. through September. The hourlong tour highlights queerness throughout the museum’s current exhibits.
“From the beginning, I wanted to present the complexity and richness of perspectives on view at the museum,” Wheeler Castillo says.
Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames
Photo courtesy of First Run Features
The Pride Tours continuation through September bridges National Pride Month with the rescheduled Miami Beach Pride. There are plans to make it a permanent feature of the tour schedule as well as being integrated into the PAMM app. This move reflects a reckoning that institutions, such as museums, have felt over the last year about how they commit, or recommit, to year-round inclusivity and representation. It has been on Wheeler Castillo’s mind in the creation of the Pride events.
“I’ve also been thinking about what has been happening this past year in museums and the desire to rethink how we address history and how museums present America,” he says. “I think art ignites these conversations.”
This marks the museum’s first Pride celebration after the 50th anniversary in 2019 and having its 2020 edition canceled by the pandemic. As a result, this celebration can be seen as a turning point, in which there is a new focus placed on what Pride means and how institutions such as PAMM can explore, embrace, and engage those meanings.
“It is important that everyone reflects on how life for queer people has changed 52 years after Stonewall and then assess what work needs to be done,” Wheeler Castillo says.
Acknowledging the cultural backlash being played out in legislatures across the country, Wheeler Castillo says, “We’re not all free till every person on the planet is free to be their authentic selves.”
Wheeler Castillo sees this year’s program and Pride as both a celebration and commitment.
“We’ve got celebrating to make up for, but we also have to continue the momentum that 2020 ushered in.”
Pride Month on Film.2 to 9 p.m. Thursday, June 24, at Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 305-375-3000; pamm.org. Admission costs $16. Films will be screened on a loop in the auditorium, and socially distanced seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
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Continue celebrating Pride month with Broadway alum Peppermint in the fourth and final episode of OUTTakes, a series that explores the past, present, and future of the LGBTQIA+ community through the lens of some of Broadway’s brightest stars. In Episode 4, above, the Head Over Heels and RuPaul’s Drag Race favorite recalls “rivers of drag makeup and gay boy bronzer” at NYC Pride, the start of her career, and more. In addition, the star performs “Chosen One,” an original song she co-wrote with Adam Joseph.
“Pride to me is not only a celebration of our community, celebration of where we’ve come, where we want to go, but it’s also an opportunity to really reflect on those who probably weren’t celebrated before but who definitely contributed to, and led and paved the way for us,” says Peppermint.
Peppermint Joseph Marzullo/WENN
Proudly sponsored by Nissan, OUTTakes offers an intimate look at Pride on Broadway, with each episode featuring an artist-activist sharing stories of what Pride looks like through their eyes and performing songs that celebrate their personal connection with Pride. The series is music-directed and produced by John McDaniel.
European soccer’s governing body has rejected Munich’s application to light the city’s stadium in rainbow colors on Wednesday when it hosts Germany’s European Championship game against Hungary, whose parliament just passed an anti-LGBTQ law.
Why it matters: UEFA said in a statement that it understands the intent of the lighting, but stressed that the body is “politically and religiously neutral” and called the action a “message aiming at a decision taken by the Hungarian national parliament.”
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The Munich city council had made clear in its request it wished to send “a visible message of solidarity to the LGBT community in Hungary which is suffering under recent legislation passed by the Hungarian government.”
Hungary’s right-wing prime minister Viktor Orbán has been outspoken against immigration and LGBTQ rights, and is seeking to shore up conservative support ahead of elections next year.
The backdrop: The new Hungarian law bans sharing content with minors that features gay characters or any sort of support for the LGBTQ community. It has been widely condemned by human rights groups.
“Racism, homophobia, sexism, and all forms of discrimination are a stain on our societies – and represent one of the biggest problems faced by the game today. Discriminatory behaviour has marred both matches themselves and, outside the stadiums, the online discourse around the sport we love.”
However UEFA, through its statutes, is a politically and religiously neutral organisation. Given the political context of this specific request – a message aiming at a decision taken by the Hungarian national parliament – UEFA must decline this request.”
UEFA statement
UEFA proposed instead lighting the stadium on Christopher Street Liberation Day on June 28 — which commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots — or between July 3 and July 9, which is Christopher Street Day week in Munich.
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