Washington Blade International News Editor Michael K. Lavers will be on assignment in Mexico and El Salvador through Feb. 8 to cover the impact of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy on LGBTQ+ migrants and asylum seekers.

Lavers will report from Tijuana and Mexicali, two Mexican cities that border the U.S. He will also be in Mexico City and San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital, before returning to D.C.

The Blade reported from the Mexico-U.S. border and from El Salvador and other Central American countries — Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama — several times during the first Trump administration. Lavers also traveled to the region during the Biden-Harris administration.

“The second Trump administration’s immigration policies have had immediate consequences along the Mexico-U.S. border and elsewhere in the region,” said Lavers. “It is critically important for the Washington Blade to continue its coverage of U.S. immigration policy and its impact on LGBTQ+ migrants and asylum seekers who are seeking a better life for themselves and their families.”

Lavers’s reporting can be found on the Blade’s website.

“This reporting trip highlights the Blade’s ongoing commitment to enterprise journalism,” said Blade Editor Kevin Naff. “It’s imperative that reporters are in the field, telling these important stories. We know that the LGBTQ community will be disproportionately impacted by the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant crackdown.”

The International Criminal Court on Jan. 23 for the first time recognized LGBTQ+ people as victims of gender persecution under international criminal law. 

Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, announced a request for arrest warrants against Taliban officials accused of targeting women and others perceived as defying the group’s strict gender norms in Afghanistan. It is the first time LGBTQ+ people have been explicitly named as victims in a gender persecution case before the court.

Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, there has been a significant escalation in the repression of LGBTQ+ people and women. A report that Human Rights Watch released in 2022 documented nearly 60 cases of targeted violence against LGBTQ+ people in the months following the Taliban’s return to power.

The Washington Blade in October 2022 reported the Taliban have frequently used the contents of seized cell phones to track and target LGBTQ+ people, further intensifying the climate of fear, and violence against the community in Afghanistan.

In its February 2023 report, “A Mountain on My Shoulders: 18 Months of Taliban Persecution of LGBTIQ Afghans,” Outright International detailed how Taliban security officials systematically targeted LGBTQ+ people, especially gay men and transgender women, subjecting them to physical and sexual assault as well as arbitrary detention. The report also noted Taliban authorities had carried out public floggings for alleged same-sex relations, with the Taliban Supreme Court publicly defending these punishments on social media at the time.

The report indicates Taliban officials had escalated their efforts to target LGBTQ+ people, making it a greater priority. They collected intelligence on LGBTQ+ activists and community members, hunted them down, and subjected them to violence and humiliation as part of their systematic campaign of repression.

Khan has sought charges against the Taliban’s Supreme Leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani for crimes against women, girls, and LGBTQ+ people. Khan said there are reasonable grounds to believe that Akhundzada and Haqqani orchestrated systematic violations of fundamental rights, including physical integrity, autonomy, free movement, free expression, education, private and family life, and free assembly.

Khan further detailed that the Taliban’s persecution was committed in connection with other crimes under the Rome Statute, including murder, imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts.

Reports indicate the Taliban has banned education for girls beyond sixth grade, severely restricting their access to education and limiting employment opportunities in health and education sectors. Taliban members have also beaten, detained, and tortured women who participated in protests in support of their rights, and have carried out violent attacks against LGBTQ+ people.

Khan’s requests have been submitted to a pretrial chamber comprising three ICC judges, who will decide whether to issue the warrants. The ICC initially authorized the Afghanistan investigation in March 2020, following a preliminary examination that began in 2007. The investigation, however, was paused for several years as the prosecutor and ICC judges considered a request by Afghanistan’s former government to defer ICC proceedings in favor of domestic prosecutions the government claimed to be pursuing.

The judges noted any cases pursued by the former Afghan government represented, at most, a “very limited fraction” of those falling within the scope of an ICC investigation. They also observed that the current government displayed no interest in upholding the deferral request. The ICC, as a result, authorized the resumption of the investigation in October 2022.

“This is a historic moment since it is the first time in history that the ICC has officially recognized the crimes committed against LGBTIQ+ people. This application for an arrest warrant sends a strong message that the international community rejects the gender persecution of LGBTIQ+ people,” said Artemis Akbary, executive director of the Afghanistan LGBTIQ Organization. “LGBTIQ+ people in Afghanistan need our support and solidarity more than ever, and we must ensure that they have access to justice and accountability.”

Outright International in its press release stated this development marks a significant step toward addressing the unique vulnerabilities of LGBTQ+ people in conflict and crisis situations.

“The Taliban’s reign of terror over women and LGBTIQ people has been based on the assumption that gender persecution can persist with impunity. The ICC’s recognition of LGBTIQ victims challenges that presumption by recognizing the humanity of our communities,” said Outright International Senior Director of Law, Policy, and Research Neela Ghoshal. “Once arrest warrants are issued against Taliban officials, member states should support the court’s efforts to swiftly bring them to justice.”

Human Rights Watch International Justice Director Liz Evenson also welcomed Khan’s announcement.

“The ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against two senior Taliban leaders for the crime against humanity of gender persecution should put the Taliban’s oppression of women, girls, and gender nonconforming people back on the international community’s radar,” said Evenson. “With no justice in sight in Afghanistan, the ICC warrant requests offer an essential pathway for a measure of accountability.” 

She added the “international crimes committed in Afghanistan are vast, but a broad approach to accountability is needed to break cycles of impunity that have led to more abuses.”

“ICC member countries should ensure the court has the backing and practical assistance it needs to expand its Afghanistan investigations,” said Evenson.

The Afghan Justice Ministry has not responded to the Washington Blade’s request for comment.

“It is truly groundbreaking for the International Criminal Court to recognize our communities among the victims and survivors of the most heinous crimes and their consequences, and to acknowledge gender identity and gender expression among the drivers of human rights violations,” said ILGA World Executive Director Julia Ehrt. “These warrants of arrest highlight human rights violations that civil society has long documented and that the world can no longer ignore.”

Argentine President Javier Milei is facing a new controversy after he made a series of homophobic and transphobic comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Congressman Esteban Paulón, a long-time LGBTQ+ rights activist, in a criminal complaint he filed argues the president used discourse that promotes negative stereotypes, and encourages violence against the LGBTQ+ community.

Milei in his Jan. 23 speech made statements that linked the LGBTQ+ community to pedophilia, specifically citing the case of a gay couple in Georgia sentenced to life in prison last year after they pleaded guilty to sexually abusing their two adopted children. Milei also claimed 5-year-old children undergo gender-affirming surgeries, an argument that experts have categorically denied.

These statements sparked national and international outrage.

“Milei radicalizes hate speech based on lies and fabricated truths,” said Paulón in an exclusive interview with the Los Angeles Blade. “He raises harmful stereotypes against the LGBTQ+ community, which generates fear and anguish in our communities. We have filed a criminal complaint, understanding that his statements constitute several crimes aggravated by his presidential investiture.”

Paulón also highlighted the societal impact of Milei’s words, noting many LGBTQ+ families live in fear of having their rights revoked.

“There are fathers and mothers afraid of being denounced for allowing their children to express their gender identity. LGBTQ+ couples fear that their children will be taken away from them,” said Paulón. “This type of discourse activates ultra-conservative groups that politically support Milei, but do not reflect the feelings of the majority of Argentine society.”

LGBTQ+ activists and human rights groups in Argentina have organized a march in Buenos Aires, the country’s capital, that is scheduled to take place on Feb. 1. The event’s slogan, “for a country without hate,” seeks to highlight their rejection of Milei’s statements and a reaffirmation of their commitment to defend LGBTQ+ rights.

Milei, for his part, denied the accusations in a recent interview, pointing out they are part of a campaign that so-called elites have orchestrated.

“I never compared homosexuals with pedophiles, but certain sectors mount these campaigns to generate indignation,” he said.

Paulón stressed his complaint also seeks to have a broader impact on Argentine society.

“Beyond the judicial outcome, we want to open a space for reflection on the importance of not validating hate speech,” he said. “These attacks not only affect a community, but also damage social cohesion and mutual respect.”

Milei has rolled back several LGBTQ+ rights initiatives since he took office in December 2023.

One of his administration’s first acts was to close the Women, Gender and Diversity Ministry and the National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism, which was known by the acronym INADI. Milei has also dismissed transgender people from public sector jobs.

The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed President Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, openly gay hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.

Overcoming opposition from some economically progressive Senate Democrats like Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.), the nominee was confirmed by vote of 68-29.

Bessent during his hearing said that extending tax cuts that were passed during Trump’s first administration with the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act but are slated to expire in 2025 will be a top priority.

“This is pass-fail, that if we do not fix these tax cuts, if we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an economic calamity,” he told the senators.

“Today, I believe that President Trump has a generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth and prosperity for all Americans,” Bessent said at his confirmation hearing. 

According to Fortune Magazine, Bessent, who is a billionaire, disclosed assets worth an estimated $521 million.

He will be the second openly gay man to serve in the Cabinet, after Biden-Harris administration Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and in a Cabinet-level office, after Obama-Biden administration Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Marantis and Trump-Pence administration Acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell.

Groups that work with LGBTQ+ migrants and asylum seekers have condemned the Trump-Vance administration over its immigration policies.

President Donald Trump shortly after his Jan. 20 inauguration signed several immigration-specific executive orders. They include:

• Declaring a national emergency on the Southern border

• Suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program

• Ending birthright citizenship under the 14th amendment. (U.S. District Judge John Coughenour, who Ronald Reagan appointed, in a Jan. 23 ruling described the directive as “blatantly unconstitutional.”)

Trump has reinstated the Migrant Protection Protocols program, also known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy that forced asylum seekers to pursue their cases in Mexico. The White House on Jan. 20 also shut down the CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) One app that asylum seekers used to schedule appointments that would allow them to enter the U.S. at ports of entry.

A press release the Department of Homeland Security issued on Jan. 21 issued notes the Trump-Vance administration has ended “the broad abuse of humanitarian parole” for undocumented migrants. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and CBP agents can also make arrests in schools, churches, and other so-called “sensitive” areas.

An ICE press release notes the agency, the U.S. Marshals Service and other federal agencies on Sunday “began conducting enhanced targeted operations” in Chicago “to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.”

ICE on X said its agents arrested 956 people on Sunday across the country. NBC Washington reported ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations personnel on Sunday morning were at a Fairfax County apartment building, but it is not clear whether they took anyone into custody.

A second press release that ICE issued on Jan. 23 notes the arrest of an undocumented Mexican man in Houston who was wanted for the “rape of a child” in Veracruz, Mexico. Mexican authorities took him into custody after ICE officials returned him to his country of origin.

“We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home while, at the same time, stumbling into a continuing catalogue of catastrophic events abroad,” said Trump in his inaugural address.
 
“It fails to protect our magnificent, law-abiding American citizens, but provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions, that have illegally entered our country from all over the world,” he added.

Immigration Equality Executive Director Aaron C. Morris on Jan. 22 said Trump’s “agenda to detain, deport, and dehumanize people is an affront to fundamental American values.”

“The executive orders will cost lives, separate families, and trap queer people in extreme danger,” he said. “They are an overt, illegal power grab with mortal consequences for LGBTQ people seeking safety in the United States.”

Then-Vice President Kamala Harris and others in the previous administration acknowledged violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity is among the “root causes” of migration from the Central American countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. (Morris is among the activists who sharply criticized the Biden-Harris administration over policies they said restricted LGBTQ people and people with HIV from seeking asylum in the U.S.)

“The Trump administration’s recent executive orders targeting asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants while escalating attacks on the LGBTIQ community are unethical, un-American, and jeopardize countless lives,” Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration Executive Director Steve Roth told the Los Angeles Blade in a statement. “By barring asylum and suspending refugee programs, these policies strip away fundamental human rights and protections, directly threatening LGBTIQ refugees who already endure persecution, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and systematic inequality.”

Familia: TQLM, an organization that advocates on behalf of transgender and gender non-conforming immigrants, was even more pointed in a statement it posted to its Facebook page shortly after Trump’s inauguration.

“On Jan. 20, we resist,” said Familia: TQLM. “This is not a day to give into fear, but a day to reclaim our power.”

“Trans and queer immigrant people have endured through regimes that sought to erase, silence, and destroy us,” it added. “Yet, we remain.”

Casa Frida, which works with LGBTQ+ migrants and asylum seekers in Mexico City, in a Jan. 20 post to its X account said it will continue to work with the aforementioned groups with the support of local officials.

“We are preparing ourselves to continue working with love and solidarity in favor of LGBTIQ communities, migrants and displaced people,” said Casa Frida. “Our programs are reorganized and coordinated with local governments with pride, dignity and without fear or shame of who we are.”

Ante los esperados cambios políticos; Estamos preparándonos para seguir adelante trabajando con amor y solidaridad en favor de las comunidades y personas LGBTIQ migrantes y desplazadas. Nuestros programas se reorganizan y coordinan con gobiernos locales. Con orgullo, dignidad y…

— Refugio LGBTIQ 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇲🇽 (@CasaFridaLGBT) January 20, 2025

CANADA

A Catholic school board in suburban Toronto has voted to uphold its policy banning Pride flags from being displayed outside schools after a school trustee introduced a motion to revise the policy on Jan. 22.

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board governs 151 public Catholic schools in Toronto’s western suburbs. In the province of Ontario, Catholic schools receive public funding and are allowed to promote religious teaching, but must generally follow provincial nondiscrimination law.

The board’s policy limits the flags that may be flown outside schools based on the number of flagpoles the school has. Those with one pole must fly the Canadian flag, those with two must also fly the Ontario flag, while those with three must fly a flag that is either associated with the liturgical season of the church, the school board itself, or a local Catholic charity. 

Trustee Brea Corbet had proposed that the third flagpole could be used to fly the Pride flag or other appropriate flags.

“When we remove rainbow flags or other heritage flags, we’re not protecting Catholic identity. We’re revealing institutional fragility. The rainbow flag doesn’t threaten Catholic education. Policies of exclusion do. And exclusion is a strong form of bullying,” Corbet said.

But other trustees rejected the motion. 

“The LGBTQ+ community is not our enemy. We all fall short of God’s glory. We are not judging, but we are also not promoting. We don’t want to outwardly promote, because our faith doesn’t allow us to. We are called to love all people, whatever their beliefs are. We are not discriminating against anyone,” Trustee Paula Dametto-Giovannozzi said at the meeting.

The current policy allows Pride flags to be displayed inside schools, but only during a specific “observance period” and they must be removed at other times.

“Prohibiting these flags from flying outside the board office and removing them inside schools after an observance period ends does not make school environments more welcoming, safer, more inclusive. It doesn’t,” Corbet said of the policy.

Catholic school boards in Ontario and other parts of Canada have a long history of disputes over LGBTQ+ inclusion, including a historic legal fight over whether a student could bring a same-sex date to prom, and an eventual political fight over whether gay-straight alliances would be allowed at Catholic schools. Pride flags have become the latest flashpoint as the school boards have lost more and more of these battles in the courts and legislatures.

UNITED KINGDOM

The iconic queer nightclub G-A-Y Bar in Soho has been put up for sale following a year of turmoil for the club and its related businesses G-A-Y Late and Heaven.

One of the best-known queer nightlife brands in London, G-A-Y has been around in some form or another since 1976, but recently it’s come under evident trouble.

In December 2023, G-A-Y Late closed, with owner Jeremy Joseph citing safety and crime issues among the reasons why he shut the bar down. Last November, the Heaven nightclub was forced to shut for several weeks when its license was pulled after one of its security guards was accused of rape.

Joseph cited the stress caused by the closure of Heaven as one reason why he’s selling G-A-Y Bar.

“I was clear to Westminster CC’s Licensing committee that if they closed Heaven for even a short time it would potentially put G-A-Y Bar at risk financially,” Joseph said in a statement posted to Instagram. “Even now after Heaven’s reopening, the damage financially and and mentally has been irreparable.”

Joseph also said that the changing nature of the gay scene has made it difficult to sustain a queer nightclub. 

“When I started G-A-Y it was always about having a venue on Old Compton Street and Canal Street, being the gayest streets in the gayest capitals. But it’s not like that anymore,” he said. 

“My goal would be for G-A-Y Bar to remain an LGBT venue and will consider franchise options, but my guts is that in the current climate, and it won’t be because Old Compton Street is not the same anymore, it has a new identity and when you look down the street, you see restaurants, cafes, take aways but the street that was the LGBT capital, is no more.”

The nightclub has been listed online with annual rent of £410,000 ($510,000).

AUSTRALIA

The classic 80s Australian film “Crocodile Dundee” is getting recut to remove an unpleasant transphobic scene ahead of a rerelease later this spring.

The 4K remastered edition of the 1986 film, titled “Crocodile Dundee: The Encore Cut” was screened at Sydney’s OpenAir Cinema on Jan 23. The new cut removes about two minutes from the film, including a scene where the titular naïve hunter played by Paul Hogan grabs a trans woman by the groin and says, “that was a guy, dressed up like a Sheila,” while another character yells a homophobic slur.

The new cut also includes an aboriginal land acknowledgment and some extended scenes.

Hogan, who was on hand for the screening, told reporters he “totally” agreed with the cuts, which had been made in the past for broadcast edits of the film.

“I heard about it years ago, it started, and it wasn’t about being woke,” Hogan said.

“They pointed out to me and said, ‘This guy is a folk hero around the world, and he shouldn’t be groping people.’ And I thought, ‘Yeah that’s right, he shouldn’t be,’ so take it out. I mean, he did it in all innocence, in naivety, but it’s better without it.”

The original “Crocodile Dundee” remains, by a wide margin, the highest-grossing Australian film of all time, and was a genuine global phenomenon. It was the second-highest grossing film at the U.S. box office in 1986 and inspired two sequels and a brief fad for all things Australian. 

PHILIPPINES

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos is pledging to veto a proposed sex education bill designed to fight teen pregnancy because he says he believes the new curriculum includes instruction for kindergarteners on how to masturbate, which, it should go without saying, it does not.

“You will teach 4-year-olds how to masturbate. That every child has the right to try different sexualities. This is ridiculous. It is abhorrent. It is a travesty of what sexual [orientation] and sex education should be to children,” Marcos told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Marcos concedes that schools need to teach children about the consequences of teen pregnancy — which has seen an alarming increase in recent years — and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, but said he does not support the Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy Bill currently before congress.

“To include the so-called ‘woke’ absurdities are abhorrent to me — and I’m already guaranteeing, this would not be passed into a law if this bill is passed in that form,” he said. “I guarantee all parents, teachers, and children: I will immediately veto it.”

The allegations about the subject matter of the proposed sex ed seems to come from a religious group led by a former chief justice, which has popularized the false claim that the bill would require schools to provide lessons on “bodily pleasure” and “sexual rights.” These bogus claims about sex education are familiar tropes pushed by religious conservatives across the world.

But Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who authored the bill, has fought back hard against the allegations.

“Mr. President, with all due respect, it’s clear that even the word ‘masturbation’ is not in the bill. It also did not mention ‘try different sexualities,’” Hontiveros said in a statement.

Hontiveros says she’s willing to accept amendments to get the bill passed.

On the first day and in the first week of his second term, President Donald Trump issued two executive orders taking aim specifically at LGBTQ+ people while rescinding seven actions by the Biden-Harris administration that expanded rights and protections for the community.

As detailed by the Human Rights Campaign, the anti-trans order, titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” would prohibit the federal government from recognizing people and populations whose birth sex does not match their gender identity, while facilitating discrimination against LGBTQ+ communities “in the workplace, education, housing, healthcare, and more.”

Additionally, the order directs the attorney general to allow “people to refuse to use a transgender or nonbinary person’s correct pronouns, and to claim a right to use single-sex bathrooms and other spaces based on sex assigned at birth at any workplace covered by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and federally funded spaces.”

The U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security are further instructed to stop issuing documents like passports, visas, and Global Entry cards that conflict with the new, restrictive definition of sex that excludes consideration of trans and gender diverse identities.

The order also would prohibit federal funding, including through grants and contracts, for any content that is believed to promote “gender ideology,” while implementing restrictions on the use of federal resources to collect data on matters concerning gender identity.

There would also be consequences for particularly vulnerable populations, such as rules prohibiting trans women from accessing domestic violence shelters, forcing trans women to be housed with men in prisons and detention facilities, and prohibiting correctional facilities from providing gender affirming healthcare of any kind.

The second executive order targeting LGBTQ+ people would end diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across the federal government. HRC points out that “The preamble to the order includes a mention of the Project 2025 trope ‘gender ideology,’ while the language does not actually define DEI — meaning that “confusion and differing understandings of what DEI entails are likely to extend the regulatory process and may, in the meantime, have a chilling effect on any efforts that could potentially be considered ‘DEI.'”

Of the Biden-era executive actions that were repealed, HRC called special attention to “President Biden’s directive to agencies to implement the Supreme Court ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, which found that Title VII’s prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex includes prohibitions of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.”

The organization notes that the ruling, decided in 2020, remains binding precedent.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday directed State Department personnel to stop nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for 90 days.

A copy of the directive that Politico obtained requires State Department staffers to immediately issue “stop-work orders” on nearly all “existing foreign assistance awards.”

President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 issued an executive order that paused U.S. foreign aid “for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.”  

“All department and agency heads with responsibility for United States foreign development assistance programs shall immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries and implementing non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and contractors pending reviews of such programs for programmatic efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy, to be conducted within 90 days of this order,” it reads. “The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) shall enforce this pause through its apportionment authority.”

Politico reported Rubio’s directive is more expansive than the executive order, although it does not stop military aid to Egypt and Israel, emergency food assistance and “legitimate expenses incurred prior to the date of this.”  The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, is among the programs impacted.

“This is a matter of life or death,” said International AIDS Society President Beatriz Grinsztejn in a press release. “PEPFAR provides lifesaving antiretrovirals for more than 20 million people — and stopping its funding essentially stops their HIV treatment. If that happens, people are going to die and HIV will resurge.

The promotion of LGBTQ+ and intersex rights was a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris administration’s foreign policy.

The decriminalization of consensual same-sex sexual relations was one of the previous White House’s priorities in these efforts. The U.S. Agency for International Development in 2023 released its first-ever policy for LGBTQ+- and intersex-inclusive development.

Rubio this week issued a directive that bans embassies and other U.S. diplomatic institutions from flying the Pride flag. A second directive that Rubio signed directs State Department personnel to “suspend” any passport application in which an “X” gender marker is requested.

“This guidance applies to all applications currently in progress and any future applications,” reads the directive. “Guidance on existing passports containing an ‘X’ sex marker will come via other channels.”

The directive stems from a sweeping executive order — “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” — that Trump signed on Monday after he took office. The president in his inaugural speech noted the federal government’s “official policy” is “there are only two genders, male and female.”

AB 309, a new bill introduced in Sacramento yesterday by Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur aims to combat the spread of HIV, viral hepatitis and other bloodborne pathogens through access to sterile syringes. 

Zbur’s health bill maintains pharmacists’ discretion to provide sterile syringes to adults without a prescription. 

“California has been a leader in advancing innovative public health policies, and AB 309 reflects our commitment to science-based strategies that save lives,” said Assemblymember Zbur. “By eliminating unnecessary barriers to accessing sterile syringes, we can reduce the spread of HIV and viral hepatitis, protect vulnerable populations, and reduce health care costs.”

In reference to vulnerable populations, it is worth noting that this bill would particularly benefit the health of LGBTQ+ communities. 

The new bill is sponsored by the California Pharmacists Association, Health Officers of California, Drug Policy Alliance and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in an effort to protect public health. 

Since 2004, California has allowed local governments to authorize pharmacies to sell syringes to adults. For the past 20 years since, extensive data and research have proved that increased access to sterile syringes reduces transmission rates and prevents deaths that can otherwise be preventable. 

The CDC supports Syringe Services Programs (SSP’s) which work as community prevention programs that provide a range of services to prevent the spread of disease. A 2015 study by the CDC’s National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System found how SSPs’ clean needle programs help communities. The more syringes distributed per the number of people who inject drugs, the more likely used syringes would be disposed of safely. 

“California’s health officers know that preventing the spread of disease is far better than waiting for a cure,” said Kat DeBurgh, executive director of the Health Officers Association of California. “This bill will keep our communities safe and will prevent the spread of HIV, viral hepatitis, and other diseases of public health concern.”

According to model-based and observational data collected by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, research consistently shows that SSPs have the highest impact in HIV prevention when support is combined with access to medications such as PreP and medications for substance use disorders.

Effectiveness is further proved when SSPs provide innovative and proven strategies without barriers or restrictions and expand access to include harm-reduction and clinical services such as peer outreach and telehealth. 

In order to provide vulnerable communities with SSPs, there needs to be strong and sustainable policy, funding and community support. This all comes in the form of supporting bills like AB 309 as they move through the legislative process. 

“For decades research has shown that providing sterile injection supplies to people who inject drugs prevents transmission of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, and we know that providing sterile supplies helps build connections to care, including substance use disorder treatment,” said Grey Gardener, California State director at the Drug Policy Alliance. “This bill costs taxpayers nothing, promotes health, and prevents harm.”

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences makes the annual announcement of Oscar nominations, it’s always a day of divisive opinions – but even the most divisive Oscar controversies of the past are bound to end up feeling like a pleasant chat over brunch compared with the one that has predictably erupted over yesterday’s revelation of the Academy’s slate of contenders, in which “Emilia Pérez” became not only the most-nominated film of the year, but the first to score a Best Actress nod for a transgender actor.

It’s a milestone that hardly comes as a surprise. The film’s star, Karla Sofía Gascón, has been considered a front-runner in the category throughout the awards season so far, already winning the Golden Globe for Best Lead Actress (Musical of Comedy) and snagging an equivalent nomination for the upcoming SAG Awards – whose membership also happens to represent the largest percentage of Academy voters, thereby making their choices a solid indicator of how things are going to go down on Oscar night. In any other year, apart from being noted as a historic first and inevitably ruffling a few conservative feathers, Gascón’s inclusion in the lineup would likely otherwise feel like business as usual.

That, however, was before the return of convicted felon Donald Trump to the White House. Days after the former reality show star signed an executive order proclaiming that the United States will henceforth legally recognize only “two genders” (justified in part by the invocation of “concrete reality,” whatever that is), it seems that Academy voters have a dissenting opinion – and suddenly, a simple Oscar nomination feels like an act of resistance against the government itself.

For those who have yet to see the film (which is now streaming on Netflix), “Emilia Pérez” is a sprawling musical drama in which Gascón portrays a powerful Mexican cartel boss who enlists an idealistic lawyer (Zoe Saldaña, also nominated for an Oscar, as Best Supporting Actress) to facilitate a gender transition, so that she can disappear from her brutal life of violent conflict and finally live freely as the true self she has always had to keep hidden. It’s an epic-length saga, blending multiple genres into a larger-than-life, unpredictable wild ride that both celebrates traditional cinematic conventions and shatters them.

In addition to the kudos for Gascón and Saldaña, the film – which, though its dialogue is mostly in Spanish, was produced in France, giving it the additional distinction of earning the highest number of nominations of any non-English-language movie in Oscar history – also earned its place among the 10 Best Picture contenders, where it competes against more traditionally styled favorites like “Conclave,” “Wicked,” and the Chalamet-as-Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown,” as well as “artsier” titles like “Anora” and “The Brutalist.” Additionally, filmmaker Jacques Audiard is nominated as director and co-screenwriter (with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius, and Nicolas Livecchi, in the Adapted Screenplay category), with two nods in the Best Song category and a host of so-called “technical” awards to round out its whopping total of 13 – only one nomination fewer than the three films (All About Eve,” “Titanic,” and “La La Land”) currently tied at 14.

Other films on the Oscar roster also gathered a high tally; “The Brutalist,” Brady Corbett’s critically lauded examination of the “American Dream” through the experiences of a Holocaust survivor (Adrien Brody) on his way to becoming a celebrated architect in the mid-20th-century United States, got 10, as did John M. Chu’s blockbuster adaptation of “Wicked” (including one each for stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande). Among other multiple nominees are “Conclave,” “Anora,” and “A Complete Unknown,” along with “The Substance,” which earned a Best Actress nod for previous dark horse candidate Demi Moore as one of its total.

Other nominations of note: Colman Domingo, whose well-deserved Best Actor nomination for “Sing Sing” gives him another shot at becoming the first openly gay person to win in that category; a pair of nominations for literary adaptation “Nickel Boys,” a story of two Black American youths at an abusive reform school in 1960s Florida; a nomination for Isabella Rossellini, daughter of three-time-Oscar winner Ingrid Bergman and Italian cinema maestro Roberto Rossellini, as Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Conclave”; and the inclusion of “Memoir of a Snail,” a uniquely poignant Australian film which features (among other non-kid-friendly things) a pair of queer characters being subjected to conversion therapy, among the nominees for Best Animated Feature.

As always, there were snubs, too: egregiously, Daniel Craig, the star of Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer” who was widely seen as a front runner, was shut out for a Best Actor nomination. Guadgnino, who also directed the bisexual tennis romance “Challengers” this year, saw both of his movies come up empty-handed; also left out was a Best Actress nod for Pamela Anderson’s breathtaking comeback turn in “The Last Showgirl,” despite promising buzz and a strong showing at previous awards ceremonies this season.

Nevertheless, while in other years these subjectively labeled hits and misses might be fodder for plenty of debate in the public forum, none of them are even a storm in a teacup compared with the uproar around “Emilia Pérez” – which thus far (at this writing, anyway) has focused on detracting from the merits of the film itself, rather than at its transgender star. We get it: “Emilia Pérez” is not a film for all tastes, so it’s not surprising that many film fans are appalled at the acclaim it has received.

Even so, thanks to the atmosphere of transphobic oppression that has been forced upon us by Trump and his extremist cronies, any discussion of the film and its nominations must now be considered with all one’s critical thinking skills, because any arguments, either for or against its worthiness, might merely be a smokescreen for a deeper agenda than defending a set of cinematic aesthetics.

For our part, of course, we celebrate the film for its bold inclusivity, as well as its fantastical exploration of not only gender, but justice, corruption, politics, and all the contradictory passions that make being human what it is. We also celebrate Gascón’s nomination and the significant historic impact it carries – particularly coming at this precarious moment in the American story.

As for Oscar night, we have no idea what to expect, so our only prediction about the ceremony on March 2 also serves as a bit of advice, courtesy a quote from a previous Oscar champion: “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.”