Updated on Saturday, May 2
‘The Latest News’ is where we update our readers on the events affecting our communities.
Filming of Season Three of ‘Pose’ has been Postponed
The much-anticipated release of the third season of FX’s Pose, a show that delved into New York’s legendary queer ballroom scene of the 80s and 90s, has been postponed indefinitely. The third season was originally going to be released in June of 2020 but was supposed to continue filming through March, when nationwide quarantine for Covid-19 began.
….while The Politician will have a second and potentially third season
The second season of The Politician is will be released in June according to plan. In an interview, creator Ryan Murphy said he would like to see the series have a total of three seasons and he hopes the last season will feature the protagonist running for president of the United States.
Several gay men in Morocco have been forcibly ‘outed’
Over the past several weeks, hundreds of gay men have been outed in Morocco after a transgender influencer, Sofia Talouni, encouraged people on Instagram to download apps like Grindr. Initially, Talouni created the post after she was attacked about her own sexual orientation. In a misguided effort to prove that queer people are everywhere, she encouraged people to see for themselves by downloading the location-based hookup apps. As a result, several men were publicly outed and at least three have been kicked out of their homes, according to the New York Times.
In Morocco, a Muslim-majority country, gay sex is a crime punishable by a fine or up to three years in prison.
Slumdog Millionaire actor Irrfan Khan dies at 53
Irrfan Khan, the iconic Indian actor known for his starring role in countless Bollywood movies, as well as Slumdog Millionaire , The Namesake and Life of Pi, died earlier today at age 53. Khan was diagnosed with a rare tumor in 2018 and had been admitted into a hospital in Mumbai earlier this week.
— Irrfan (@irrfank) March 16, 2018
Khan announced his diagnosis on Twitter in 2018
Although he is most commonly known in the U.S. for his roles in American movies, Khan also played roles in important Bollywood films that include The Lunchbox, Piku and Maqbool. He was considered one of India’s most prominent actors and at the time of his death had a net worth of close to $50 million.
Khan is survived by his wife and two sons.
Tunisia Becomes Second African Country to Recognize a Gay Marriage
Although signals remain mixed, the first gay marriage was recognized in the North African country of Tunisia yesterday. A Tunisian man living in France allegedly returned to his town to include his partner’s name on his birth certificate. There was immediate backlash from opponents in the Muslim-majority country, and homosexuality there is still regarded as taboo. According to its colonial-era laws, homosexuality is a punishable crime that can result in up to three years in prison.
The news of the marriage came from the Facebook page belonging to Sham, an LGBTQ advocacy group based in that country. It is still unclear whether Tunisia will continue to regard the marriage as legitimate, or if the event was the result of an oversight. If the country decides to make future gay marriages legal, it will be the second in the continent to do so after South Africa, which legalized gay marriage in 2006.
Covid-19 vaccine that allegedly worked on monkeys is making its way to human trials
1) So, this is the first ‘serious’ preclinical data I have seen for an actual vaccine candidate. This one is an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine made by Sinovac. Seems to work in NHPs. https://t.co/3znYhO2L7k
— Florian Krammer (@florian_krammer) April 22, 2020
A report released on April 19 by scientists in China showed that a vaccine tested on monkeys successfully protected them from Covid-19. Although the report has yet to be peer reviewed, doctors around the world have praised the study as a potential source of a vaccine.
The DNA sequence of Covid-19 has been published and made public as scientists around the world scramble to create a vaccine. However, several obstacles remain: human trials, which are now beginning in Europe and the United States, must show that the vaccine does not have serious adverse health effects. Sean Doyle, a Ph.D medical student at Emory University, was the first person in the United States to receive a shot of a trial vaccine. Even if the vaccine proves to be a success, distribution will create a huge challenge, as millions around the world continue to be exposed to the disease.
The latest series of human trials is unprecedented in modern history; usually, vaccines take years or decades to be developed. The fastest vaccine ever created and distributed to the public, which was for mumps, took 4 years.
4.4 million more Americans filed for unemployment last week, bringing the total claims to 26 million
4.4 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits this week, bringing the total to 26 million since stay-at-home orders began in March. California and Florida had the highest number of jobless claims, although the number of new claims has been decreasing.
California had its first Covid-19 death on Feb 6, more than a month before lockdowns began
On Tuesday, officials in Santa Clara County, which encompasses the city of San Jose, announced that an autopsy revealed that two residents there had died of Covid-19 on February 6 and February 17, according to the New York Times. This brings to question the original timeline of the virus, which until yesterday determined that the first coronavirus death in the United States had been in the Seattle area on February 26.
The new discovery means that the coronavirus was circulating throughout California, and possibly the United States, long before serious measures were taken to halt its spread. It also brings up serious concerns about the potentially thousands of people who went untested but were carrying the disease.
A gay married couple in Texas died days apart
Anthony Brooks, a councilman in the city of Live Oaks near San Antonio and his husband Phllip Tsai-Brooks died hours apart while they were being treated for Covid-19 at a hospital. The couple got married in 2014, one year before gay marriage was legalized nationwide.
President Trump announced that he wants to suspend all immigration into the United States
In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our GREAT American Citizens, I will be signing an Executive Order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 21, 2020
Since March, President Trump has used the Covid-19 outbreak to restrict travel and immigration but on Monday night, he declared outright that he hoped to ban all immigration in order to protect American jobs. His restrictions would not only include refugees and asylum seekers, but also those who are applying for work visas and green cards.
The ban will initially last for 60 days.
New York City Pride postpones all in-person events for 2020
On Monday, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced that New York City will cancel all June events, citing safety concerns over the ongoing pandemic. New York’s parade is among the largest in the world and last year, the 50th anniversary of the march attracted 5 million visitors to the city. The parade was set to take place on June 28; this is the first time the parade will not take place in its 50-year history.
Saturday night’s virtual Global Citizens Concert raised more than $150 million for Covid-19 relief
Co-hosted by Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel, Saturday night’s Global Citizens concert included performances by John Legend, Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder and more. The two-hour long televised event was put curated by Lady Gaga, who has been outspoken about the socioeconomic disparities that the pandemic has exposed. The money will be donated to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Solidarity Response Fund. Last week, President Trump said he would stop funding the WHO, which was instrumental in early Covid-19 responses across the world.
A beach in Jacksonville, Florida reopened despite state’s spike in Covid-19 cases
A Jacksonville beach defied initial plans to lockdown all beaches until the end of April after the city decided to reopen its beaches for four hours in the morning and three in the evening. Although sunbathing and lounging is still prohibited, aerial images showed hundreds of people swimming and walking along the beach on Friday despite the fact that Florida’s confirmed Covid-19 cases have spiked since April 15. The state has 15,000 cases so far.
Hundreds in California protested stay-at-home orders
Okay I’m done.
Another “liberate” protest, this time in Huntington Beach, California.
And the guy with the “COVID-19 is a lie” sign – wearing a hazmat suit, mask, goggles, and gloves – says it all.
— Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) April 17, 2020
Days after right-wing protests in Michigan, Ohio and Virginia, about 200 protestors gathered in Huntington Beach, Southern California to protest that state’s stay-at-home orders. California was the first state to implement strict measures to slow the spread of Covid-19, which have been shown to work: there are just 29,000 confirmed cases in the state, compared to more than 220,000 in New York.
President Trump seemed to be indirectly support the protests and tweeted “LIBERATE VIRGINIA”, “LIBERATE MINNESOTA” and “LIBERATE MICHIGAN”, in an apparent endorsement of the movements.
Biggest single Covid-19 outbreak in the U.S. is in a Pork Factory in South Dakota
Smithfield, a meat processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, became the biggest single cluster of Covid-19 infections in the United States, with 640 cases or 44 percent of that state’s total. The plant is responsible for 4-5 percent of the country’s pork production and is considered an essential business. The plant was criticized after its workers, many of whom are immigrants from Latin America, were asked to keep going to the factory weeks after several tested positive for coronavirus.
The plant has since temporarily closed many of its factories across the country.
Trump said he will defund the World Health Organization (WHO)
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said he would defund the World Health Organization (WHO), which has been instrumental in helping countries respond Covid-19, for two to three months. Trump accused the WHO of “severely mismanaging” the outbreak and that is had “failed” the American people.
The U.S. government is the single biggest contributor to the WHO, which was created by the UN to promote public health worldwide. In 2018-2019, the U.S. contributed $893 million.
Bernie Sanders and Obama endorsed Joe Biden
Trump goes off on press and says his authority is ‘total’.’
New York City has 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases
New York City reached over 103,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus over the weekend and 7,000 total deaths. This makes New York the current global epicenter for Covid-19, but the curve is slowly flattening, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Hispanic and Black people are disproportionately dying of Covid-19 in New York
Hispanic people in New York City are dying at higher rates than any other group and make up 34 percent of coronavirus-related deaths in, according to the New York Times. The second-hardest hit group are African-Americans, who make up 28 percent of deaths but just 22 percent of the city’s population.
Trump hinted at wanting to re-open economy but also promised to listen to health officials
On Friday, President Trump suggested that he was struggling to decide whether or not to lift stay-at-home guidelines nationwide after April 30. New estimates have suggested that the death toll from coronavirus in the United States will be lower than initially thought. Still, many scientists have warned that lifting stay-at-home orders early could bring a second deadly wave of infections.
“I would say without question it’s the biggest decision I’ve ever had to make.”
Ultimately, states have the power to enforce stay-at-home orders, but the President’s decision would likely serve as a guideline for several states without severe outbreaks.
Mass grave in the Bronx suggests death toll is higher than reported
Footage of a mass grave being dug in the Bronx’s Hart Island suggest that several more New Yorkers are dying of the coronavirus than are being reported in the state’s official count. New York state is only including the deaths of those who tested positive for coronavirus and subsequently died, although hundreds have likely died of Covid-19 without ever having tested.
Hart Island has long served as a potter’s field to bury homeless New Yorkers or those with no known family or next of kin.
Phyllis Lyon, LGBTQ+ icon, died
Phyllis and Del were the manifestation of love and devotion. Yet for over 50 years they were denied the right to say 2 extraordinary words: I do.
Phyllis—it was the honor of a lifetime to marry you & Del. Your courage changed the course of history.
Rest in Peace my dear friend. pic.twitter.com/emQYfKWQnk
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) April 9, 2020
In 2004, Phyllis Lyon was part of the first legal same-sex union in California when she married her partner, Del Martin, in San Francisco. Although the couple’s marriage was invalidated by the state’s Supreme Court just one month later, she re-married in 2008 just months before Del Martin passed away.
She died of natural causes on Thursday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci praises Black Americans and LGBTQ communities in front of Vice President Pence
Rebecca Black and Auli’i Cravalho come out as queer
auli’i cravalho is bi and that is ALL that matters to me pic.twitter.com/TA5IUchlSY
— maggie (@fabraybeso) April 8, 2020
Rebecca Black, of ‘Friday’ fame, talked about her recent relationship to a woman on the “Dating Straight” podcast and said she most identifies with the term “queer.”
Meanwhile, Auli’i Cravalho, the 19 year-old actress who played Moana in the Disney animated film, came out as bisexual on Tik Tok to the tune of Eminem’s “Those Kinda Nights.”
6.6 million more Americans filed for unemployment last week
Millions more filed for unemployment benefits, bringing the total number of Americans filing for unemployment to more than 16 million total in the past three weeks. This is the worst financial crisis in American history.
The New York Department of Health released data showing Blacks and Latinos are disproportionately infected with Covid-19 in NYC
The New York Department of Health released data breaking down the infection rates of Covid-19 by ethnicity in the nation’s largest city. Below is the racial breakdown of confirmed cases.
-
Hispanic- 34% (29% of population)
-
Black- 28% (22% of population)
-
White- 27% (32% of population)
-
Asian- 7% (14% of population)
Bernie Sanders dropped out of the Democratic Race
In Chicago, 70 percent of coronavirus casualties are Black
Black Chicagoans make up a vast majority of Covid-19 related deaths in the city of Chicago, despite only making up 30 percent of its population. People of color, especially Black Americans and immigrants in urban areas, are more likely to be working essential jobs that prevent them from working from home.
In New York City, many have noted that the still-packed trains are filled with people of color.
Boris Johnson was transported to an Intensive Care Unit
Last night, on the advice of my doctor, I went into hospital for some routine tests as I’m still experiencing coronavirus symptoms. I’m in good spirits and keeping in touch with my team, as we work together to fight this virus and keep everyone safe.
— Boris Johnson #StayHomeSaveLives (@BorisJohnson) April 6, 2020
On Monday, The UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson was transported to an intensive care unit as his coronavirus symptoms continued to worsen. Johnson, who is 55, first tested positive for Covid-19 on March 25, when he posted a video confirming his diagnosis.
Boris is in stable condition and not on a ventilator.
Japan’s Prime Minister said he could declare a state of emergency tomorrow
After Japan thought it had avoided the worst of the coronavirus outbreak, confirmed cases spiked last week and the country now has 3,000 positive cases. Tokyo, which was set to host the summer Olympics this July before they were postponed to 2021, is set to become a new hotspot.
The FDA announced it will loosen restrictions for gay men who want to donate blood
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will temporarily lift restrictions against men who have sex with other men from donating blood due to a shortage in blood donations during Covid-19. In 1983, the FDA permanently banned gay men from donating blood as a measure to stop the spread of HIV.
China donates 1,000 ventilators to New York
The Chinese government facilitated the donation of 1,000 ventilators to New York weeks after Governor Andrew Cuomo warned that the state— now the epicenter for the coronavirus in the United States— would run out of ventilators in the coming weeks. The shipment will arrive at JFK on Saturday, according to CNBC.
Idaho passes two anti-trans laws
On March 30, governor Brad Little of Idaho signed into law two bills that will significantly impact transgender people living in that state. One will prevent people from changing the sex on their birth certificates while the other will ban trans girls and women from competing in female sports.
In a statement, the ACLU said it will fight the decision in court.
