Federal judge: IRS can’t keep coronavirus money from inmates  KOLO

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California governor nominates 1st gay to state Supreme Court  KOLO

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She Will Rise chronicles Hill’s career along with the larger story of women in politics.

Advocate.com

Simone Pass Tucker is running as an openly non-binary person for the Falls Church City Council in the city’s Nov. 3 election. If elected, they would become the first non-binary candidate to take office in Virginia history and only the second in the history of the country. 

Tucker, a 22-year-old Falls Church native, is running as a progressive candidate with a platform of turning the city into the model of what a “little city” could look like. 

According to their website, they hope to bring greener technology to the city and cheaper housing through subsidy programs. They also vow to reform policing in Falls Church by shifting officers’ focus to community building and away from “predatory measures”.

“Falls Church City is unique in our location and size, and I believe we have the ability to pave the way for what small progressive cities should be like,” their website states. “If elected, I pledge to be a voice for the voiceless in Falls Church. Let’s do better.”

Tucker is running against Falls Church Education Foundation Executive Director Debbie Hiscott and Josh Shokoor, a member of the city’s Housing Commission, to fill the council vacancy created by the death of Councillor Dan Sze in July. 

According to their website, Tucker became active in politics as a child when they joined their parents to knock on doors for Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. They went on to become involved in activism around reproductive rights, Middle East peace, and environmental justice during their college years at North Carolina State University and the College of William and Mary.

“Simone’s vision for Falls Church is one that emphasizes sustainability, helping build a community by, and for, its residents, one in which generations can prosper in our beautiful small town not just now but decades down the line,” Tucker’s campaign manager Benjamin Lotto said in an email to the Washington Blade. “They want to help foster the charm and creativity that makes them and so many Falls Church residents unwaveringly proud of their city.” 

The post Non-binary candidate looks to fill Fall Church City Council seat appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights

D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At-Large); at-large Council candidate Christina Henderson, who’s running as an independent; and gay Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Randy Downs, who’s running for the Ward 2 Council seat as an independent each received a +10 rating on LGBTQ issues this week from the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance.

GLAA, which rates only D.C. Council candidates, scores candidates on a scale of between -10, the lowest possible rating, to +10, the highest possible score. It bases its ratings on candidates’ responses to a detailed questionnaire as well as on their record on LGBTQ issues.

In a development unlike nearly all of its past candidate ratings since the 1970s, an unusually large number of candidates — 19 out of the 34 D.C. Council candidates rated for the Nov. 3 general election — failed to return the questionnaire, resulting in their receiving a low rating.

GLAA says it automatically assigns a “0” rating to a candidate that does not return the questionnaire if GLAA lacks information about the candidate’s record on LGBTQ issues. If the LGBTQ advocacy group knows of a candidate’s supportive record, the candidate can receive a rating of between +1 and +4 based on “record” points even if he or she did not return the questionnaire.

Among the candidates from whom GLAA said it did not receive a returned questionnaire was gay Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Alexander Padro, who is one of 23 candidates running for one of the two at-large Council seats on the ballot in the Nov. 3 election. Padro, who is running as an independent, received a +2 GLAA rating, even though his supporters say he has a long record of involvement and support on LGBTQ issues.

Padro told the Washington Blade he never received the GLAA questionnaire and was startled when the Blade informed him he received a +2 rating and was listed in GLAA’s ratings announcement as not having returned the questionnaire.

“As a 20-year out ANC Commissioner, I am the second longest serving GLBTQIA elected official in D.C.,” Padro told GLAA President Bobbi Elaine Strang in an email on Monday. “I would never have ignored the request to complete the questionnaire had I received it,” he said in his email, a copy of which he sent to the Blade. He appealed to Strang for an opportunity to receive and quickly return the questionnaire.

In response Strang indicated that GLAA members discussed Padro’s request.

“Our consensus is that we will accept and rate any new questionnaires as long as they are in our possession by the 12th [of October],” Strang told Padro in an email. “We will publish them to our website and update the release and breakdown of points, but we will not be sending out the release – it will only be available on the website which you can link to or share yourself,” she said.

Padro, along with gay Ward 2 candidate Downs, has been endorsed by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a national advocacy group that supports LGBTQ candidates running for public office. He said he would return the completed questionnaire to GLAA within a day or two after receiving it.

In a statement accompanying its ratings, GLAA said White, Henderson, and Downs agreed with GLAA on all of the issues GLAA deems important to the LGBTQ community and the three offered detailed, substantive responses to the questionnaire. GLAA awarded the three the maximum four points in its rating score for what it says is the candidates’ extensive record in support of LGBTQ issues, including White’s co-sponsorship and introduction of LGBTQ supportive legislation during his close to four years as a Council member.

D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2), who won a special election in June to fill the Council seat that became vacant when longtime Council member Jack Evans resigned earlier this year, is among four candidates, including Downs, competing for the Ward 2 seat.

GLAA gave Pinto a +7.5 rating, saying she agrees with GLAA on most issues covered in the questionnaire and provided “good substance” in her responses. But GLAA said Pinto lost points, as did other candidates, for not fully agreeing with GLAA’s support for a bill introduced by Council member David Grosso (I-At-Large) to decriminalize sex work in the District. GLAA said Pinto expressed support for decriminalizing the selling of sex by sex workers but opposes decriminalization of the buying of sex from sex workers’ customers, a position considered unacceptable by decriminalization advocates.

Ward 2 independent candidate Martin Miguel Fernandez and Ward 2 Statehood Green Party candidate Peter Bolton each received a 0 rating. GLAA said it did not receive a returned questionnaire from either of the two candidates.

Among the other independent candidates running for the at-large Council seat, GLAA issued these ratings: Monica Palacio, former director of the D.C. Office of Human Rights, +9.5; Ed Lazere, longtime D.C. community and progressive activist, +8; Mario Cristaldo, Latino community activist, +6.5; and Will Merrifield, affordable housing activist, +4.5. Libertarian at-large candidate Joe Bishop-Henchman received a +2.5 rating. GLAA says he agrees with GLAA on the issues but “offered very little substance” and did not provide information on any record on LGBTQ issues.

Former At-Large Council member Vincent Orange, who’s running as an independent to win back the seat he lost to Robert White in 2016, is among 15 at-large Council candidates that GLAA says did not return the questionnaire. Orange received a +2.5 rating.

In addition to Padro, the remaining at-large Council candidates that GLAA says did not return the questionnaire are Markus Batchelor, +1; Claudia Barragan, +1; Statehood Green Party candidate Ann Wilcox, +0.5; Marcus Goodwin, 0; Franklin Garcia, 0; Calvin Gurley, 0; Keith Silver, 0; Michelangelo ‘Doctor Mic’ Scruggs, 0; Jeanne Lewis, 0; Eric Rogers, 0; Chander Jayaraman, 0; A ‘Shia Howard, 0; Kathy Henderson, -1; and Republican Marya Pickering, -3.

In the Ward 4 Council race, Democrat Janeese Lewis George, who beat incumbent Council member Brandon Todd in the June Democratic primary, received +6.5 GLAA rating. Independent Ward 4 candidate Perry Red, who GLAA says did not return the questionnaire, received a rating of 0.

In Ward 7, incumbent D.C. Council member and former D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, who is running unopposed, received a +8 rating.

In Ward 8, Democratic incumbent Trayon White received a +4 rating; independent candidate Frederick Hill received +2.5; independent Christopher Cole, who did not return the questionnaire, received a 0; and Republican Nate Derenge, who GLAA says “opposes GLAA on every issue” in his questionnaire responses, received a -2.

GLAA says it will soon post on its website the full point breakdown for all of the candidates it rated along with the questionnaire responses for all candidates that returned the questionnaire, on glaa.org. 

The post D.C. Council candidates White, Henderson, Downs win top GLAA ratings appeared first on Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights.

Washington Blade: Gay News, Politics, LGBT Rights

Here are mental health experts’ tips for addressing anxiety and practicing self-care during election season (because even the pros need help right now).

Queer Voices – LGBTQ News, Opinion and Conversations

In some welcome good news, Netflix just dropped the trailer for the new biographical series about singer and Latinx icon Selena.

The new, two-part series will follow the rise of the famed Tejano singer as she works to have a career in music and eventually cross over onto the English-language music charts. Actress Christian Serratos will lead the series in the title role.

Related: Transgender Woman Banned From Performing In Selena Tribute

Selena (real name Selena Quintanilla-Pérez) grew up in Texas as the daughter of a restauranteur. From an early age, she showed a powerful aptitude for music, and began performing at small engagements and even on street corners. At the time she turned 18, Selena released her first studio album, and Coca-Cola had even tapped her as a local spokesperson. By her mid-20s, the singer had picked up a Grammy award, began modeling and acting, and earned the distinction as one of the most successful Tejano singers in history. Just before the 1995 release of her album Dreaming of You–her first major attempt at crossing over into English-language pop–Yolanda Saldívar, a president of Selena’s fan club, shot and killed her amid an embezzlement scandal. She was just 23 years old.

As a singer, Selena remains a popular gay icon among the Latinx community for her mix of talent, style and innovation as a mixer of English and Spanish language music. Music critics widely credit her with popularizing the Latin genre, which led to the explosion of Latin singers in the late 1990s, including such artists as Ricky Martin, Shakira and Jennifer Lopez (who previously played Selena in a biopic).

Selena: The Series arrives on Netflix December 4.

Queerty

USL suspends Phoenix Rising’s Junior Flemmings for anti-gay slur  ESPN

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Hernandez, a volunteer with the TransLatin@ Coalition, is in stable condition.

Advocate.com

1. Gay men take over ‘Proud Boys’ hashtag on Twitter  FOX 13 Tampa Bay
2. Gay Twitter users take over Proud Boys hashtag with photos of their love  9News.com KUSA
3. Proud Boys: Gay men use Twitter to overtake right wing group name  USA TODAY
4. Gay Twitter users flood #ProudBoys hashtag with LGBTQ pride images  NBC News
5. View Full Coverage on Google News

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