Livia Albeck-Ripka, "U.K. to Ease Rules on Blood Donations by Gay and Bisexual Men"
”The new policy, which will take effect next summer, was described by Britain’s health secretary as a landmark and by an activist as “a fundamental shift toward recognizing people are individuals.”
Clea Skopeliti, "Blood donor rules to be relaxed for gay and bisexual men in England"
”Gay and bisexual men will be able to donate blood more easily from next summer following a landmark policy change, the NHS blood service has announced. The move has been welcomed by campaigners who have fought to overturn rules that “perpetuate inequality.”
Jacqueline Alemany, “LGBTQ+ Caucus wants to see more representation in a Biden administration"
”President-elect Joe Biden has pledged the “most diverse” Cabinet in U.S. history. But the congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus has released a letter expressing concern that LGBTQ+ representation is insufficient at the highest levels of American government.”
Chris Johnson, "Frustration builds as Biden’s Cabinet includes no LGBTQ picks"
”With President-elect Joe Biden quickly filling out his Cabinet, fewer opportunities remain for him to make history by nominating the first openly LGBTQ person to a Cabinet-level role for Senate confirmation. Some LGBTQ leaders are quietly expressing frustration that the movement hasn’t pushed more aggressively for representation in Biden’s Cabinet.”
Harron Walker, “Republican Effort to Make Life Hell for Trans Kids Finds Victory in Federal Court"
”The impact of Donald Trump’s record number of federal court appointments continues to make itself known as a pair of Trump-appointed judges have ruled against banning what is commonly referred to as “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ+ minors.”
Chris Johnson, "Trump’s Labor Dept. goes through with gutting LGBTQ workplace protections"
”With less than two months remaining in the Trump administration, the Department of Labor went through with making a rule final that would grant religious institutions a broader exemption under former President Obama’s executive order barring anti-LGBTQ workplace discrimination among federal contractors.”
Kate Hodal, "Covid used as pretext to curtail civil rights around the world, finds report"
”Free speech, LBGT+ rights and freedoms to peacefully assemble have deteriorated during the pandemic.”
Mike Ives, "Bhutan Becomes Latest Asian Nation to Dial Back Anti-Gay Laws"
”Lawmakers in the Himalayan country have voted to amend a 2004 law that criminalizes “sexual conduct that is against the order of nature,” previously treated as a reference to gay sex.”
Julia Laite, "‘An Equality of Injustice’: The Sex Buyers’ Bill and Lessons from History"
”In the U.K., Labour MP Diana Johnson, backed by other prominent Labour back-benchers like Jess Philipps and Sarah Champion, has proposed a new bill called ‘The Sex Buyer’s Law’, which aimed ‘to criminalise paying for sex; to decriminalise selling sex; to create offences relating to enabling or profiting from another person’s sexual exploitation; to make associated provision about sexual exploitation online; to make provision for support services for victims of sexual exploitation’. The bill, like other ‘end demand’ laws passed in Sweden, Ireland, and Canada, has been met with anger and extreme worry by women who sell sex in the United Kingdom.”
Article Spotlight
Allyson P. Brantley, ‘“Hardhats May Be Misunderstood”: The Boycott of Coors Beer and the Making of Gay-Labor-Chicana/o Alliances.‘ Pacific Historical Review (2020) 89 (2): 264–296. DOI: 10.1525/phr.2020.89.2.264.
Drawing on organizational records, the progressive press, and oral history archives, this article explores the development of a multiracial, coalition-backed boycott of Coors beer in the 1970s and 1980s. It focuses on the boycott’s expansion from a localized labor dispute in the San Francisco Bay Area to a national, politicized campaign. It argues that the Coors boycott and its array of backers, representing labor, Chicana/o, queer, black, Native American, and leftist circles, demonstrate the vibrancy, creativity, and evolution of activism in the decades following the civil rights movements. Instead of seeing the move to coalition and consumer movements as conservative, this article identifies the Coors boycott as an example of ongoing grassroots efforts to forge solidarity and oppose business conservatives and the New Right.
Episode Spotlight
How do you come out in a religious community that loves you conditionally? What do you tell yourself about your faith and your desires when your Church views your sexuality as disordered? In this episode of Sexing History, we focus on the experiences of three gay men who were priests or seminarians in the St. Louis diocese beginning in the 1990s. Their overlapping stories, their friendships, their faith, and the ways in which they came out to themselves and each other within Catholic institutions, speak to the intertwined histories of desire and devotion.
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