LGBTQ Breaking News Service

All I can say is, it’s a good thing no one else was home when I attempted this Cirque du Soleil arms workout. I knew it would be tough (my core quakes just thinking about the Cirque du Soleil Extreme Abs Workout I tried a few months ago), but I can honestly say I didn’t expect to fully collapse after five minutes. That was when, after five full minutes of shoulder-oriented plank variations, Cirque performers and NASM-certified personal trainers Elizabeth and Guilhem Cauchois introduced the “push-up descent and hold.” I want to warn you about this move right now. It’s likely to be the slowest push-up of your life, in which you have to hold at the bottom for a full 10 seconds before pushing back up. It was so intense, I actually shrieked out loud in my empty living room. Think that sounds dramatic? I would, too, but after completing the full workout, I’m just amazed I didn’t burst into tears.

Was this workout challenging? Um, yes. Was it also fast, efficient, and effective? Yes, yes, and yes. If you want to work your arms, shoulders, and back in 10 minutes, no equipment required, give this one a try for yourself!

In a brutal effort to “clear the streets” of the LGBT+ community, security forces are entrapping Egyptians using dating apps, throwing them into jail, and subjecting them to systematic torture and abuse, a new report has found.  

Using social media and apps such as Grindr, Egyptian police are creating fake profiles that they use to meet gay, lesbian, bi and trans people, at which point they are picked up off the street and arbitrarily arrested, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. Police then unlawfully search through the content of their phones to justify keeping them in detention and bring charges against them.  

“Yasser”, 27, told the group he was arrested when he met another man in Giza Center City after chatting with him on Grindr, a same-sex dating app.

“When they came back with a police report, I was surprised to see the guy I met on Grindr is one of the officers. They beat me and cursed me until I signed papers that said I was ‘practicing debauchery’ and publicly announcing it to fulfill my ‘unnatural sexual desires’.”

While in detention, all of the fifteen people interviewed by the rights group said security forces subjected them to physical and verbal abuse, “ranging from slapping to being water-hosed and tied up for days”.

Political activist and transgender woman Malak el-Kashif, 20, said she was arrested and “put in a cage-like cell” the size of a freezer after attending a protest in March 2019. Security forces questioned her about her private life, her sex-reassignment surgery and her relationship with other activists, she said. 

“I suffered the worst verbal abuse I have ever encountered by police officers and they forbade me from going to the bathroom for two days. They subjected me to a forced anal exam. They sexually assaulted me,” she said.

Eight were victims of sexual violence while five were forced to undergo anal examinations, the New York-based rights watchdog said.

One 28-year-old trans activist said she bled for three days after police officers subjected her to forced vaginal and anal examinations as part of so-called “virginity” tests, according to the report.

Another of the victims, “Alaa”, said he has been forced to use a crutch because of injuries from being brutally beaten and serially raped by other detainees.

“‘Virginity’ and anal tests constitute cruel, degrading, and inhuman treatment that can rise to the level of torture and sexual assault under international human rights law,” HRW said.

The attacks come amid a fierce anti-LGBT crackdown in the country following the 2017 Mashrou’ Leila concert, when a picture of Sarah Hegazy raising a rainbow flag among the crowd was widely circulated. She was quickly detained by police, who tortured her for months and incited fellow detainees to beat and sexually assault her. Hegazy killed herself three years later, sending waves of shock and solidarity worldwide.

Rights groups say that since the concert authorities have stepped up arrests and prosecutions against LGBT+ people using vague discriminatory “debauchery” and “prostitution” laws.  

“Egyptian authorities seem to be competing for the worst record on rights violations against LGBT+ people in the region, while the international silence is appalling,” said Rasha Younes, HRW’s LGBT+ rights researcher for the Middle East and North Africa.

“Egypt’s partners should halt support to its abusive security forces until the country takes effective steps to end this cycle of abuse, so that LGBT+ people can live freely in their country.”

LGBTQ Latino people are suffering a disproportionate economic impact because, as in all crises, the most marginalized people are often the ones who are most affected.

This article originally appeared in Spanish.

Leer la versión en español.

Translated by Daniel Parra

It’s a fact: the pandemic has hit Latinos disproportionately, and it seems to be even harder for LGBTQ Latinos—though it is hard to say for sure because the monthly employment and unemployment reports published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics do not include information on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Advocacy groups and academics have been calling for the inclusion of LGBTQ people in government data collection since before the pandemic. “It is important to include this information so that we can disaggregate the impact,” says Daniel Reyes, Chief Program Officer at the New York City Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, better known as The Center.

The differentiated impact has been noticed and analyzed by independent studies and surveys from organizations working to defend the equal rights for LGBTQ people. For example, the most recent Human Rights Campaign survey shows that “40 percent of Latinx LGBTQ respondents had their work hours reduced due to COVID-19, compared to 32 percent of Latinx respondents, 27 percent of LGBTQ respondents and 21 percent of the general sample population.”

According to Ty Cobb, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Research at Human Rights Campaign, the reasons why LGBTQ Latinx people are suffering a disproportionate economic impact is because, as in all crises, the most marginalized people are often the most impacted. “We know that LGBTQ Latinx people, along with many other LGBTQ people of color, have historically lacked access to power and are fighting years of systemic inequality in our institutions,” Cobb says in a statement to City Limits.

In addition, it is well-known that LGBTQ people in general largely work in industries significantly impacted by the pandemic, “like restaurants or retail, so it is no surprise to see that those who are multiply marginalized have lost their jobs or lost work hours at greater rates,” adds Cobb.

In New York State, 5.1 percent of the population identifies itself as LGBTQ and 20 percent of them are Latinos, according to The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.

According to Reyes, a large portion of LGBTQ Latinx work in the leisure and hospitality industries which also includes the foodservice, hotel, and restaurant sectors. “I have friends who used to work in hotels who are still unemployed,” Reyes said by phone.

Unemployed and harassed

Anthony Sanabria is gay and lost his job as an assistant bartender on March 15. Since then, he has not been able to find a steady job. Since March, 13 customers that Sanabria used to see at the bar have died because of COVID-19.

His best friend, a 14-year-old trans woman, also died from COVID-19. “She was like a mom, like a sister and a friend,” Sanabria says on the phone. “I was called at seven in the morning. I was shocked. I fell down. Then I was told that I fainted.”

March also saw the death of Lorena Borjas, the trans activist, for many the leader of the trans-Latinx community in New York. “For a month I fell into a deep depression. I looked like a crazy person. I didn’t eat much. I cried a lot and kept thinking about what I was going to do without the support of anyone. I removed myself from social media. I didn’t want to hear from anyone,” Sanabria says between pauses in a weak voice.

Four of Sanabria’s friends have died and several other straight men he knew. According to HRC, LGBTQ Latinos surveyed not only reported higher unemployment rates, but also “a higher risk of encountering many of the economic setbacks already experienced by the greater LGBTQ population at large, including unemployment, reduced hours and difficulty paying bills,” the report states.

Sanabria, for example, had money to pay his room’s rent until May. Since then, he has been unable to pay his rent and since April, his landlord has harassed him in many ways.

“My landlord has asked me to leave the room four times, all by text messages. When it comes to asking for the rent, she doesn’t like to face me,” says Sanabria. On one occasion when the landlord tried to evict Sanabria, he called the police and the officers explained to his landlord that she could not evict him. Two days later, she removed the stove and the two roommates became upset with Sanabria.

Bianey Garcia-D la O, a political activist and trans rights organizer, says, “It’s not only about the lack of food and money but harassment from the landlords. They cut off electricity, they locked you out by changing your door lock, and people have to put up with the harassment.”

Among the LGBTQ community, the situation of trans women is the most difficult because it is much rarer to find a job that accepts them. “I know that many have fallen back on using drugs or alcohol to forget. In my case, I had stopped smoking cigarettes. I quit smoking years ago, but due to stress I went back to smoking cigarettes and marijuana,” says Garcia-D la O.

García-D la O says some landlords have installed cameras in corridors, in the kitchens, at the entrance of their homes to monitor who is quarantined. “That started because of the coronavirus,” says García-D la O. 

Frustrations and fellowship

Since July, when Sanabria first called the police, the landlord has been more vigilant in using the cameras that were already installed before the pandemic. She constantly asks him about the visitors that he receives and she asks what they do during visits. 

“My friends stop by and bring me food or they come to accompany me,” Sanabria says.

She has also turned off the hot water, removed the dishwasher, and thrown away some of Sanabria’s belongings, he sys.

In August the landlord told him that she was going to put the house up for sale and a few days later one of the two roommates left. Two weeks later, she told Sanabria that the house had been sold. Realtors have been visiting the house ever since. The “For Sale” sign is still on the front door.

“I had to call the police a second time because she tried to kick out my visitors,” says Sanabria. “The police came and talked to her again. She can’t kick me out.”

When tenants are evicted, “what we’ve seen at The Center is that young and old [LGBTQ] people return to the biological family. They go to unaffirming homes,” says Reyes.

Looking at the bright side, both García-D la O and Sanabria, highlight that in the midst of the crisis and despite the lack of money and food, they have found deeper fellowship.

“Bonds of friendship have been created. Many people in the LGBTQ community had never taken up food or money collections before, and all of this was born during the pandemic,” says García-D la O.

Ahead-of-the-curve thinking helped keep City Gym strong in the early days of COVID-19 when the weight of the pandemic dropped on people-focused industries. 

“We lost a fair amount of members — maybe they couldn’t  financially afford it anymore, maybe they didn’t feel safe,” said Hailee Bland Walsh, founder and owner of City Gym in Waldo. “A lot of people said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be back, it just doesn’t feel right now.’ … I felt a tremendous amount of grief, honestly. But then I put my big girl pants on and thought, ‘We’re just going to have to do this.’”

And for an industry built on physical connectedness and in-person activity, the challenges were clear, she said.

“I’m in the business of being inside and breathing hard and touching things,” said Bland Walsh. “It has been quite a time for us to navigate, but I keep saying, ‘Creativity is up in COVID.’”

City Gym outdoor classes

While pivots to online and outdoor classes have met displaced members of City Gym where they are, it’s the Kansas City fitness hub’s decade-old policy against forcing people into intimidating contract memberships that might have saved it from total defeat, Bland Walsh said. 

“Ten years ago, no-contract was crazy,” she said, citing industry standards she looked to change when she opened City Gym in 2011 — an effort born out of her career as a professional soccer player in North Carolina, a trainer in San Francisco, and a desire to get back home to Kansas City. 

Click here to view City Gym’s current offerings and membership rates. 

“Experts said, ‘You’re never gonna make it,’ but I just kept [thinking] ‘I hate being locked into something I’m not using or happy with. Wouldn’t it just be better if we earned their business every month?’” 

Such a philosophy gained the gym more than 1,000 members — each free to end and pause their membership whenever necessary, no strings attached. 

“We wanted to create community, family, and belonging through our actual policies and practices,” she said.

Space for the ‘biggest, fullest expression’ of self

As City Gym’s members start to return, Bland Walsh is reminded of why she got into the fitness space to begin with — and why making the passion entrepreneurial has been well worth long days and late nights, she said. 

Hailee Bland Walsh, City Gym

“Gyms are already intimidating places and the folks who need us most are the folks intimidated to walk through the door,” she said, highlighting the importance of inclusivity in fitness and reasons why City Gym earned the attention of Google, which celebrated the business in a nationally televised commercial. 

“We created a workout group that was specific to trans men and Google found out about it. It ran on ABC during the ESPY’s and something like 4 million people saw it,” Bland Walsh recalled, adding the momentum has resulted in even more widespread community work with trans youth. 

“I had parents reaching out to me with questions and I felt obligated to help because of their inquiry, but I didn’t have any true experience [with their needs,]’” she said, noting research led her to Transformations KC — a local transgender, gender non-conforming (TGNC) and gender expansive youth group for teens 12-18, where Bland Walsh currently serves as executive director in addition to her duties at City Gym.

“I feel like my job is creating space for people to show up and be the biggest, fullest expression of themselves. I often times feel a sense of responsibility to generations who came before me to help create more seats at the table that allowed me as a woman, as a member of the LGBT community to have a voice,” she said. 

“I feel quite a sense of responsibility to pay that forward and that’s part of why I do this work, because there’s someone 20 years ago who was having conversations, creating space for me and I want to pay that back or pay that forward by creating things for others.”

Click here to learn more about Transformations KC or to get involved. 

A nurturing home in KC

Space making is equally as vital in building entrepreneurial communities, Bland Walsh said.

“When I first moved back to Kansas City, folks were very generous. At first it took a little bit of trust to believe they genuinely wanted to help me,” she said. 

“If you tell someone in the Bay Area your best idea and they’ve got more money, they can steal it. But Kansas City really welcomed me and absolutely nurtured me.”

Such a sense of belonging ultimately helped City Gym flourish, with Bland Walsh feeling she could bring her true self to the business — in turn creating an authenticity engine that’s changed lives across the metro.

“I feel really lucky to have a really awesome network of people and if someone comes to me and they need something I can help them and if I can’t, I know someone who can. I love having those kinds of relationships,” she said. 

“That’s the way Kansas City entrepreneurs are and can be.”

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The Washington Blade, in partnership with The Wharf and ABSOLUT, is excited to announce the first National Coming Out Day at The Wharf on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2020. 

Each year on Oct. 11, National Coming Out Day celebrates coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. National Coming Out Day at The Wharf brings business specials, pride-themed fitness classes, and more to the waterfront neighborhood.

“While we weren’t able to have our annual Pride on the Pier event at The Wharf during the city’s Pride celebration we are excited to be able to celebrate National Coming Out Day,” says the Washington Blade’s director of marketing, Stephen Rutgers. “During this time it is important to still celebrate coming out in a safe and socially distanced way.” 

Visit washingtonblade.com/comingout for a full list of business specials, fitness classes and more. 

Event sponsors include Absolut, PEPCO, BABE, Washington Regional Transplant Community and  The Wharf.

The Washington Blade was founded in 1969 and is known as the “newspaper of record” for the LGBTQ community both locally and nationally. For more information, visit washingtonblade.com.

ABOUT THE WHARF

The Wharf is Washington D.C.’s most exciting neighborhood. This remarkable mile-long neighborhood along the Washington Channel of the Potomac River reestablishes Washington, D.C., as a true waterfront city and destination. Phase 1 opened in October 2017 with two million square feet of residences, offices, hotels, shops, restaurants, cultural uses, marinas, and public areas including waterfront parks, promenades, piers, and docks. When complete in 2022, this $2.5 billion, world-class, mixed-use waterfront neighborhood will feature more than 3.5 million square feet of development. The Wharf is easily accessible to the region by water taxi, Metro, WMATA and Southwest Neighborhood Shuttle buses, bicycle, foot, and car.

Development is led by Hoffman-Madison Waterfront, a joint venture between Hoffman & Associates in partnership with ER Bacon Development, City Partners, Paramount Development and Triden Development.

More information is available at www.wharfdc.com. Download the District Wharf app for a live news feed, information on events, interactive map, transportation updates and more. The app is available on Apple and Android devices.