I'm Keith Ghostland. All Things LGBTQ6 Anniversary Show. Today is Tuesday, October 18th. We are recording at Orgro Media in Mount Pilia, which we acknowledge has unseated Indigenous land. So enjoy the show. Keith, what you got? OK, the first is what you should all expect.  Everyone should have gotten a mail-in ballot in the mail. If you haven't, please get in touch with your town clerk immediately. Please read the instructions. Remember to sign it. And you can either mail it back in, but make sure there is time for delivery. Or you can go to the town clerk's office and, like in Mount Pilia City Hall, there is a drop box right in the back. So the trivia question, and Anne was successful, we need to thank Richard Eckberg and Jean O'Leary for an idea in 1988 that has become an international celebration. What is it? So I also want to acknowledge this is Breast Cancer Awareness Month because we've all lost way too many people. So front porch forum, interesting post. People are trying to organize a queer holiday craft fair at the Capital City Grange here in Mount Pilia. And it will be on Saturday, December 17th. Our intention is to create a fun, relaxed, inclusive event that celebrates creativity in queer community and welcomes artists and crafters of all experience levels from professionals to hobbyists. So, and Zach hopefully has put up two contacts for you. One is their website.   If you want to donate, that's where to go. And then there's an email for questions. So, and as time goes on, I've already reached out to them. They're going to keep us updated on where they are, what's happening, and all of the final details. I want to mention again the migration pathways stories of yesterday and today. This is the presentation at the Brattleboro Public Library. And this is an in-person event, October 29th, 2 to 4 p.m. And this was the story of Rowan Cohenmeyer and Leon Ingle, a Vermont gay couple who were entrepreneurs, civic leaders in Townsend during the 1980s and 90s. Leon was a refugee twice, first fleeing the Bolsheviks in 1918 and then again the Nazis in the late 1930s. But here was the description. And this is sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council. Warren and Leon's remarkable story of love, adversity, caregiving, and creativity provides a lens to explore similar and divergent experiences of today's LGBTQ elders, asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants. And there's going to be people available at the end of this to talk about what is the pathway to residency, what are the things you need to do, immigration, and all of that. When I saw this, I thought of Linda. In its queer connect, November 10th, their sapphic story hour, and they're still doing them virtual. So anybody, anywhere, Chelsea Robichaud? Chelsea Robichaud mainly writes sapphic fiction. Genres include fantasy and contemporary romance. She has also self-published a science fiction comic as well as sapphic historical fiction. So, and if you go on to Queer Connect Bennington's website, Facebook page, you can get the Zoom link. I think it's called sapphic now, isn't it, sapphic? Sapphic story hour? It was still listed as sapphic story hour, okay. And then just, you know, a little reminder, social tinkering, which is the community organization in Rutland. They have formally announced that they have formed a group, Rutland Plus, that is the specific LGBTQ Plus program for Rutland County. And they've started to meet virtually on a monthly basis to look at how they can increase visibility and community standing for the LGBT Plus community. And they actually marched in Pride Day this year. So they're out there, they're open arms to the rest of the community. If you're interested, social tinkering's website, see what you can offer. Okay, Anne? Okay. Nice bow tie. Why, thank you. And yours as well, and yours. We're looking very specific. It's very celebratory. It's very celebratory. We may be setting a standard, we're not going to be able to uphold. Well, I have a lot of mixed stories to share with you, and I thought I'd start with a good one. So let's go to Europe, where Slovenia becomes the first post-communist country to legalize same-sex marriage and adoption. This is huge. The Slovenian parliament passed an amendment allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt after a constitutional court ruling made it the first country in Eastern Europe to do so. Slovenia emerged, you may recall, from the breakup of Yugoslavia. It's the first former communist country to endorse this reform in Europe. As most of its neighbors do not allow same-sex unions or same-sex marriages or civil unions. That's where all the Eastern Europeans will go. The government of Estonia came the closest in 2016 by agreeing to recognize same-sex unions created in other countries. Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Montenegro, and I have more about Montenegro coming up, have laws establishing same-sex civil partnerships. And in Hungary, as we know, even talking about homosexuality in front of children has been punishable by a fine since 2021. In July, Slovenia's highest court ruled that the law defining marriage is only between a man and a woman discriminated against gay and lesbian couples. It suspended the contested articles with immediate effect and ordered parliament to amend the text within six months. With these changes, we are recognizing the rights of same-sex couples that they should have had for a long time, the state secretary said. The main opposition party, now surprisingly, the Slovenian Democratic Party criticized the court's decision and organized several rallies against the new law about they failed. So good for Slovenia. Now let's go to Montenegro, more good news. Montenegro and I have a picture view for you now of the Montenegro Pride. They hold a Pride March despite opposition from the church. Several hundred people on October 8 joined an LGBTQ Pride March in Montenegro held a mid-strong opposition from the influential Serbian Orthodox Church in the small conservative Balkan country. Montenegro's 10th Pride event was dubbed no more buts, reflecting the demands that more be done to stem hate speech and harassment of LGBTQ members despite huge steps that have been made in the past years. We gathered here for the 10th time to show we are human, that we are live beings made of flesh and blood, wishes and dreams, but rejected and ignored, discriminated and trampled upon because of love, sudden activist. Now a little background on Montenegro, it's a highly conservative, male dominated society. And initial Pride marches were marred with violence. But now, see, it wants to go to the European Union. So as the country seeks European Union membership, authorities have backed Pride events in recent years and approved same sex partnerships in 2020. Well, they can be co-opted, that's good. And the Serbian Orthodox Churches had a prayer protest and- Oh, churches. I know it. We can use all the prayers we can get, thank you. After splitting from Serbia in 2006, Montenegro's have remained divided among those supporting pro-western policies and those favoring closer ties with fellow Slavic countries, Serbia and Russia. So, but the churches have not won in this instance. We don't want them officials to come here and take photos with us. Yeah, some of the activists were angry because a lot of politicians showed up for this Pride march. And this activist said, we want results, no more buts. So, good news from Montenegro. Mix news, bad news really from Slovakia. The good news is that organizers estimated that 20,000 people attended a vigil in Slovakia protesting the murder of two gay people outside of Bratislava Bar. And I have a picture now before you of the vigil. Thousands of people gathered on Friday to commemorate the two people killed outside the bar. The men were shot dead in the capital Bratislava on Wednesday in a suspected hate crime. 20,000 people or so took part in the vigil mourning the men's death and demanding action on LGBTQ rights. Slovak President Susana Kapatova who raised the rainbow flag over her office spoke at the event. I'm sorry that our society was not able to protect your loved ones, she said.  Prime Minister Edward Hagar was also at the vigil, organized by the Otherness Institute, an LGBTQ advocacy group. Slovakia's national crime agency has classified the shootings as premeditated murder, motivated by hatred of a sexual minority. This sparked calls for more protection for LGBTQ people in Slovakia, a relatively conservative country where same-sex marriage is not legal. A BBC reporter from the Czech Republic said some Slovaks were angry at what they say is another theme, hypocrisy from the politicians. While the Prime Minister held a rainbow flag at the rally in June, an MP from his party called unsuccessfully for ban of the flag on public buildings. European Parliament Vice President Michael Simeka, who was also at Friday night's events, said he wanted the European legislature to discuss the murders of this session next week, to express our sympathy but also to call on the Slovak authorities to take clear steps to put an end to the language of hatred toward LGBTQ people, he said. The two men were killed outside Bratislava's Teplaren bar, close to the city center on Wednesday evening, as I said. Another woman was injured and is now in a stable condition at the hospital. After a brief manhunt, police found the body of the 19-year-old gunman who was believed to have shot himself on Thursday. He was identified as the son of a former right-wing politician. Just before the killings, he had posted an anti-LGBTQ and anti-Semitic manifesto on Twitter, warning that he would carry them out. He later also claimed responsibilities. So to continue on this miserable note, hate crimes reach record high as offenses against transgender people double in the UK. The Home Office report links the rise in police-recorded transgender hate crimes to discussions on social media. And there's, everybody's kind of shifting blame all around social media is like a fluid target that they can use, but we all have speculations about some of the discourse going on, I mean, okay. I'm sorry, hold on to that thought about the impact of social media when I start talking about Vermont. Well, hate crimes targeting transgender people have rocketed by 56% in a year, as the number of overall offenses hit a record high in England and Wales. Almost 156,000 offenses were recorded by police in 2021, with the year seeing the biggest annual jump since Brexit. So now I have some short, cheerful messages from North America. Mexico's most populous state passes marriage equality. It's named Mexico Passed Marriage Equality on National Coming Out Day, October 11th. The vote in the State Congress was 49 to 12 with six abstentions. The state officially referred to as the state of Mexico to distinguish it from the country as 17 million inhabitants. Now, the tally, only three states do not have marriage equality, although five of the ones that do have it got it via court ruling or administrative decree and still have to write it into law to comply with the 2015 jurisprudence ruling by the Supreme Court Justice of the Nation. Now, more good news from Mexico. Mexico Senate passes a conversion therapy ban. Punishment is two to six years in prison for anyone who carries out impart supplies and forces or finances any type of treatment therapy, service or practice that hinders, restricts, impedes, underlines, and also suppresses a person's sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. The penalty is doubled if the victim is a minor senior citizen or has a disability. So the Senate, like as in the US rules over all the states, but now it has to go to the Chamber of Deputies which is comparable to our Congress. Still, more good news. That's good news from Mexico. Let's go to South America for more good news. Two transgender women are elected to Brazil's Congress and here they are. Erica Hilton on the right and Duda Salabert on the left. They won seats on Sunday in the Brazilian Congress. Voters in Sao Paulo elected municipal councilwoman Erica Hilton, a black former sex worker who is a member of the Leftist Socialism and Liberty Party. Voters in Manas, Juris, State, Elected, Balo, Horizonte, municipal councilwoman Duda Salabert, who is a member of the Leftist Democratic Labor Party. Salabert said in a video she posted to her Twitter account that she received the highest number of votes for any congressional candidate in Manas, Juris history. Salabert also highlighted that she received death threats during her campaign.  When the first trans person elected to National Congress, she said, we won the election despite the attacks from leftists, attacks from Christian fundamentalists, and death threats. They have them too. Pardon me? They have them too? Oh yeah. Hilton also, so they both got death threats. Erica and Duda showed true courage in their campaigns for Congress at LGBTQ Victory Global Institute Programs Director. There are two of the 324 openly LGBTQ candidates who ran in the congressional, presidential, and state legislature in gubernatorial elections. 18 of them, including Hilton and Salabert, won their races. An openly gay member of the Socialism and Democratic Liberal Party, who's also a member of the federal district's legislative chamber, won reelection with the highest number of votes of any candidates running for seats in the body that governs Brazilia, the capital of Brazil. His name is Fabio Felix. Eduardo de Leyte, an openly gay governor of Rio Grande do Sul, who's a member of the Socialist Democratic Party, will face off against a member of the presidential Jair Bolsonaro's right-wing liberal party who is his former chief of staff in an October 30 runoff. We hope their success is a sign of better days. Brazil remains an incredibly tough place to engage as an out leader. Where homophobia, transphobia, death threats, and worse are common, said the Victory Institute Global Programs Director. In 2018, we lost one of our own, and every time I cover Brazil politics, I think of this. In 2018, we lost one of our own, Rio de Janeiro Councilwoman Mariela Franco, assassinated by anti-LGBTQ and anti-woman attackers. While her loss continues to be devastating, she has become an icon in the fuel needed to inspire more courageous LGBTQ Brazilians to raise their voices. Bolsonaro will face off against former President Luiz Ignacio Lula de Silva on October 30th, and that's going to be very interesting because he's not going to accept it. Well, I am not going to win. Who? Bolsonaro. Well, I think de Silva is favored, but there's talk that Bolsonaro just won't accept, take a page out of Trump's playbook and won't accept the results if he loses. But let's turn to a more... We have to move on now. No, well, I hate to say it, but I've raised this with one more Brazil story in my clip. Okay, but make it snappy, would you? All right, Mars won from Brazil. A middle-class black family in Brazil copes with the election of a far-right extremist president. The mother believes that she's cursed after an unexpected encounter while her husband puts all of his hopes into their son's soccer career as the film begins. Fireworks burst in the sky celebrating the election of right-wing president Bolsonaro. This political upheaval simmers in the background while a lower middle-class black family who live on the outskirts of an unnamed Brazil-yen town slowly begin to feel its wake. As the political polarization of their nation rises, so does the tensions for this tight-knit family. So let's take a look at a clip from Mars won. I don't want to do anything, do I? I don't want to stop playing soccer. I'm thinking of doing other things too. Like what? What was it?  Tell me, Devinho, are you crazy? My dream is to become an astrophysicist and participate in a Marti 1 mission. Marti 1? What mission is that? I don't know what's going to happen in 2030 and that our human beings will try to colonize Marti. Wow, Devinho. I don't know what to say. Is that what you want and for Marti? I'm hoping to have a telescope to be able to observe better. Telescope? Let me see what you think, bestie. No, Devinho. I don't think so. It's beautiful. It's very interesting. Also showing a new fest, which I mentioned last time. We saw a movie on New Fest, what was it? I don't know. Okay, so who wants to go to Little Rock, Arkansas? The nation's first trial over the state's band on gender-confirming care for children begins in Arkansas this week, the latest fight over restrictions on transgender youth with championed by Republican leaders and widely condemned by medical experts. U.S. District Judge Jay Marti will hear testimony and evidence. Starting Monday over the law, he temporarily blocked last year prohibiting doctors from providing gender-confirming hormone treatment. Puberty blockers are surgery to anyone under 18 years of age. It also prevents doctors from referring patients elsewhere for such care. The families of four transgender youth and two doctors who provide gender-confirming care want Moody to strike down the law, saying it is unconstitutional because it discriminates against transgender youth and truths on parents' right to make medical decisions for their children and infringes on doctors' free speech rights. The trial is expected to last two weeks as a parent. I never imagined I'd have to fight for my daughter to be able to receive medically necessary health care. Her doctor says she needs, and we know she needs, said Lacey Jenin, whose 17-year-old daughter has been receiving gender-confirming care. The right is always concerned about parental rights when it comes to books and all that kind of stuff, but when it comes to the opposite parental rights, they are nowhere to be found. It's a big hypocritical gap there. Can I just say we saw Black as you are at Newfoundland? Yes. Very good. Very interesting. Gubernatorial candidates Mara Healy and Tina Kotec are no strangers to political firsts. In 2009, Healy, who is now the Massachusetts Attorney General, led the nation's first successful challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law that prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages. In 2014, she broke barriers again, becoming the nation's first out-lesbian elected state attorney general. Nearly 3,000 miles west, Kotec became the country's first out-lesbian speaker of the House of Representatives in 2013. She made history again by becoming Oregon's longest-serving House speaker before stepping down in January to run for governor. This coming election day, these lesbian trailblazers could shatter glass handlings once more, simultaneously becoming the first out-lesbians ever elected governor in the United States. And here are their photos side by side. And then Dearborn Public Schools is holding another meeting about LGBT plus books that some parents want banned. The meeting comes after another meeting was canceled when yelling protestors filled the conference room. The right-wing political views of the New Head of Grinder are causing some users to delete the popular gay dating and hookup app. Delete Grinder is trending after news incoming CEO George Harrison, 44, previously tweeted, he was a conservative who supported some of the positions of the then-president Donald Trump. Governor Don DeSantis and Virginia Governor Glenn Yonkin, Harrison, who is gay, starts his new job October 19th. So the 45 playbook, anything that I can make a buck off of. So protest, we have to stop this. The building that once house lesbian and feminist press fire brand books in Ithaca, New York has been designated a local historical landmark. All right. The city council approved the designation unanimously last Wednesday acting on a recommendation the Ithaca landmarks preservation committee, the Ithaca voice reports. So they have a plaque and. That's great. Michigan in the latest state, Michigan is the latest state to criminalize gender-affirming care for young people. State representative Ryan Berman, the same legislative slater seeking to ban drag shows in schools, not that any Michigan school has been known to host a drag show, introduced a bill Tuesday under which parents and guardians would be charged with felony child abuse if they allow their children to undergo gender-confirming procedures. Medical professionals who provide the care would be charged as well. Conviction would come with a maximum penalty of life in prison, life in prison. And billionaire electric car magnet Ellen Elon Musk is blaming communism in elite colleges and universities for his estrangement with his transgender daughter, Vivian Jenna Wilson. I didn't know he had a transgender daughter. Well, there you go. Now you do. Now I do. And apparently she has more sense than her father. Yes. And she says it's a full on communism and general sentiment that if you're rich and you're evil, Musk told the Financial Times and interviewed Publish Friday, it, meaning my relationship may change, but I have a very good relationship with all the other, meaning his children, can't win them all, Musk did not go into further detail. I know. Isn't that?  Okay. Now I'm probably going to butcher these names, but Savante Pablo and Carolyn Bertosi were announced as 2022 Nobel Prize winners for their scientific discoveries, making them the first out queer scientist in history to join the list of known LGBTQ Nobel laureates. Students of University of Florida students help protest this week criticizing the anticipated appointment of Senator Ben Sass, Republican Nebraska to lead the school. A presidential search committee unanimously approved Sass, Sass A, I guess, Sass, Sass. Last week, as its sole financial finalist for the top job, prior to his election to the U.S. Senate in 2015, Sass has led a small private Lutheran college in Nebraska for several years. Much of the outrage Monday was colored by student opposition to his past dances on LGBTQ rights, such as his objection in 2005 to the Southern Supreme Court's legalization of same-sex marriage. In the way in my case, Ogil fell versus Hodges. He called it a disappointment, and his continued assertion that the sanctity of marriage is one of his top priorities in Congress. A crowd, Gainesville's son estimated about a thousand people, including students and staff, stormed a building Monday in which Sass, who was expected to resign from the Senate before the end of the year, was holding a series of planned town halls. And I think they drove him off the stage. Yes. I hope they withdraw his candidacy. I hope this school withdraws his candidacy. I know. People just think they can, you know, that nobody's going to notice these things. And lastly, for now, is Brittany Grina and U.S. Marine Paul Whalen, who are being held in Russia, could be released by the end of this year. We hope that's true, said the former U.N. ambassador from the United Nations, Bill Richardson, who traveled to Moscow in December and September. And, you know, I think Biden made a statement that he would only talk to Putin about this and nothing more. So I think Putin wants more. He doesn't want just one. He wants more than one. So. Reaffirming the importance of voting, current commentary are there are five or six house seats that could easily flip in this coming election based upon voter turnout. One of them is Franklin Six. This is Brenda Churchill, who, if elected, would be our second transgender member of the legislature. Your vote counts this election. It's critical. Follow-up monkeypox. We haven't talked about it for a while. I know it is disappearing now. Well, here's the reason that might be. CDC is saying there's an 85 percent decrease in the incidence of monkeypox since the beginning of August. In the U.K., stopped ordering monkeypox vaccines, by the way. Part of what contributed to this is the Biden administration appointed Dr. Dmitry Descalas to coordinate the administration's response.  So they brought somebody from within the community to address the needs of the community. And what he did was look at how is this transmitted? How does that impact with the community and sent out a message that was not identity-driven but practice-driven? They got out ahead of all of our major Pride festivals and runs in the South and Bear Week, and they went out with the vaccine. They came up with a vaccination schedule that worked. Also how to use multiple doses within a single vial versus a single dose, 85 percent decrease. This is what happens when you work with the impacted community versus telling them what. So there are two major stories happening in Vermont right now, and I'm only going to talk about one of them. And on our next show, hopefully there's going to be more follow-up with the Randolph High School, because they're still doing their open forums, their school board and administration is still looking at their response. So it'll be a more comprehensive. But the other big story is Pride Day and the outright Vermont fire truck pull, and sort of walking through chronology. And it's kind of difficult. So if I start sort of, wait a minute, I think you're missing something, please speak up. Do you guys have any good videos of this? Well, tell us. Okay. Well, this is what I'm going to do, but walking through it, it's like it is so convoluted and the statement about social media. A lot of both this and Randolph is playing out on social media. And one of the commentaries recently about social media is after somebody's tweeted it three times, oh, it must be true. There's no fact checking. How this all started, well-known activists in the Burlington community. One who was one of the original rioters at Stonewall in 69 has been a very vocal anti-trans member of the Burlington community. Both he and the chair of the Republican Party in Burlington have actively gone after the established LGBTQ plus organizations. Any time there is a positive statement about trans, they are out there with anti-trans literature and signage. Actually he, and I didn't appreciate this until I was sort of looking through and getting tidbits, he was banned from the Pride Parade last year because of his anti-trans flags and banners. So this year prior to the Pride March, they started posting on media with a black face with a line through it, women's face with a line crossed out in red. This is what I'm taking to Pride, let's see how they react. So this is happening on social media. Now he and the chair of the Republican Party claim that at Pride Day, but they don't specify where or circumstance, he was assaulted by transgender youth. Now the Burlington police are investigating, they have issued no statement, which means they're really struggling for information. The only information out there is what he is putting out on his social media, which is what the conservative press picked up and it has gone global, including J.K. Rowling's making comments and whatever. His assertion is this was a gang of thugs from outright. No for heaven's sake. No, and specifically targeted outright and then started calling both outright and the Pride Center just a bunch of hooligans called them brown shirts.  Outright responded saying we knew nothing about this. These were not our kids. We don't condone violence of anyone. Well, was he attacked or what? No, well, this is what's still being investigated. This is why I said the police have not issued a statement and that the only pieces of information out there are what he is putting on social media. There's nothing independent. And I, in part of it, he said he went to, you know, the emergency room for treatment, but the emergency room can't say anything other than if he says he was here. Yes, we can confirm that, but there's no details. So at the fire truck pull, when the MCs starting the event, five or six of them show up with anti-flag, anti-banners. The youth got trans flags, quickly made cardboard signs and just block them out of view. They didn't engage them. They didn't try to do anything that was confrontational. They just obscured them from view so that the people who were participating weren't subjected to it. But, and the reason I was sort of highlighting this story today is be aware that this person, the chair of the Republican Party in Burlington, are starting a chapter of LGBT Alliance Vermont based on the UK model that is going on. That name is so similar to the LGBTQIA Alliance of Vermont that it's going to be very difficult to know who is saying what at what point in time, because part of their statement is the issue that they have is, oh, we're not against trans people, but sexual orientation is about same-sex attraction. It is about a woman being attracted to a woman, a man being attracted to the man, whether you're lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Identifying as transgender, that's something totally different. That should be separate from, and this is where they sort of give it away, and that shouldn't overshadow the rest of us. So you can see where this is going. So I will continue to be tracking this, but again, a lot of it is on social media, so it's difficult to get accurate, independent information, because again, after the third time it gets tweeted, everyone says, oh, well, that's a fact. And do you know every week that we do the show, just about, some person puts up under all things LGBTQ, this is the gay flag, not this. Look to see if it's attributed to LGBT Alliance. And how do you distinguish them from the LGBTQ Alliance that you're involved with? That's being given great thought. So back to you. Well, thank you, Keith. That was really creepy stuff going on. Well, and it's so convoluted that trying to piece it apart? I would think someone would have taken videos of some of this, but he did. Which could be doctored also. Well, I have pretty bad news from Asia. Let's start with Qatar, which we discussed last time. Qatar's envoy loses bid for Human Rights Post. She called Jews, enemies, and gays disgusting, and she applied to this Human Rights Council. So Human Rights Council from UN Watch successfully urged the UN to deny Qatar's bid to become chair of the Human Rights Forum, following her anti-Semitic tweets. Qatar's United Nations ambassador, this is the United Nations ambassador from Qatar, Al-Mufta, has lost her bid to become chair of the upcoming forum on human rights, due to her recent tweets calling Jews our enemies and gays disgusting, according to the Human Rights Watchdog, UN Watch. In a letter sent September 12th to the president of the Human Rights Council, coinciding with the opening of the 51st session of the Human Rights Council, UN Watch urged the UN to deny Qatar's bid to become chair of the Human Rights Forum, which opens the same week as Qatar hosts the World Cup, and we have a little more about that too. We commend the Council President Federico Balekas for doing the right thing and rejecting Qatar's ambassador of hate. The letter opens. Ambassador Al-Mufta writes that the Jews focused investments in industry and media, and that is why they dominated and tyrannized and ruled the world. Again says Al-Mufta, the American Zionist controls the U.S. media, and thus it is well targeted for achieving their anti-Islam elsewhere. This hatred, she recalls, was instilled in her from the beginning. We learn from a young age that Jews are our enemies, so she puts herself forward. About gays, Ambassador Al-Mufta is equally clear and consistent. On October 20, 2011, she called for God's curse upon gays and also upon those who encouraged them. In June 2018, she again called on God to curse gays, admiring Russia. In the 2018 World Cup for opposing gays, she exclaimed, may God curse them.  She's the last person in the world who should be at a U.N. forum on human rights, democracy, and rule of law, the U.N. Watch added. The letter also points to a 2013 tweet in which she wrote in Arabic, I only remember our daily morning anthem from my childhood, Palestine is our country, the Jews are our enemies, and salute the flag. Well, all I can say to that is she has a lot of hootspots. Well, Patricia Hermans, the ambassador to the Bahamas, is going to get the job. But Israel wants a diplomatic presence in the Qatar World Cup. They discussed with Doha the aim of reaching an agreement that would enable Israel to provide consular assistance to Israelis planning to travel to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, taking place in Qatar. Now, Qatar has not shown positive sign regarding Israel's reported attempts to use the global soccer event as a springboard for diplomatic ties with the oil-rich Gulf state. Israel was reportedly also asked to allow Palestinian soccer fans to travel to Doha for the World Cup, and yes, the U.S. will be competing in the World Cup in 2022 to clarify something from last time. Now, I have a really sad, awful story. Can I have to stop you after this one, Ian? I've got two more. Oh, we're running out of time, and I still have some stories here. Okay, well, let me show you a picture of Hamad Saburi, 22.  You see the picture? Activists from the local fledgling LGBTQ activist group Başist Collective told Pink News that extremists from the Taliban kidnapped Hamad Saburi from Kabul, videotaped shooting him in the back of the head, and then sent tape of the murder to his mother. The kidnapping and execution took place in August, but is now only being reported in the media.  Bahar was a friend of Saburi and said the shy young man had dreams of becoming a doctor before the Taliban seized power last year following the abrupt departure of the U.S. and coalition forces from Afghanistan. Since then, the Taliban have commenced a campaign of targeting, torturing and killing anyone accused of being LGBTQ plus, creating a climate of fear and terror. He said he learned of his friend's execution via cell phone, causing him to immediately delete all of the pictures and communications with Saburi. The Taliban will regularly seize phones of men suspected of being gay. Some gay men in the country have been scrubbing or even deleting their social media accounts, as the Taliban will regularly search for profiles with LGBTQ plus content. His execution was deliberate and outside of any legal framework, a representative told Pink News, I don't understand how people in good conscience around the world sit idle while the Taliban continue to rule with the total disregard of human life.  After his execution, they returned his dismembered body parts as a warning. Another gay man now in hiding for his safety reported last year that he was burned and tortured by the Taliban. Earlier this year, a gay non-binary person reported they felt alone after the Taliban tortured and stabbed him 18 times with a knife.  It is time for them to finish people like you. The unidentified stabbing victim said his attackers told him. The death of Hamad Saburi is further proof that the Taliban will not stop until they eradicate all people from Afghanistan. Afghanistan and activists said. Terrible. Terrible. Well, we're going to have to move to the U.S. now. Okay. All right. Well, things probably are a little better. We're about to find out. Yeah. An LGBTQ advocacy group on Tuesday offered to fund all clubs at New York's Yeshiva University after the college suspended student activities to avoid recognizing a campus pride group.  In response to the club's freeze, which was announced last week after the Supreme Court said the university needed to recognize the Pride Alliance, Jewish Queer Youth said it would fund any of the college's dozens of student groups. So Republican legislative attacks on transgender children over the last two years have reached such intolerable levels of barbarianism. It's hard to imagine that further cruelty could be possible. But on Tuesday, a group of Michigan Republican state representatives continued to push the envelope, introducing a bill that would see parents and medical professionals face life in prison for providing gender affirming care to a minor. House Bill 6454 seeks to change the very definition of child abuse to explicitly apply to anyone who knowingly or intentionally consents to obtains or assists with any gender transition procedure for a child. The language applies not only to gender affirming surgery, which is very rare for teens, but also to hormone treaters, puberty blockers. If found guilty, parents and medical professionals could face a maximum life sentence of 25 years for assisting a minor in obtaining care that has been deemed again and again medically necessary by every pediatric institution in the country. Providing or helping with such treatment will be penalized as child abuse in the first degree, a classification more severe than those for causing intentional on neglectful harm to children. Republicans hold a narrow majority in Michigan House and they are expected to throw full support behind the bill. Although in the state's Republican held, Senate passes it. Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer is likely to veto it and we'd have to wait to see whether that veto would be overridden. Houston, a man accused of killing a black transgender woman in 2020 was in court Thursday after being charged with murder. Trans activists say it's a rare occurrence for a suspect to be caught in cases like this one. On Thursday, a judge said Jamal Richmond bond at $500,000 for the killing of Asia Foster in 2020, who were accused of hiring as a sex worker. And there's a movie coming out, Christmas on the Ranch. Oh, I saw that. It's a lesbian rom-com. Like does it hurt? On the range though. Yes, like does it hurt probably, but Cowboy. City girl Hailey is always so busy with her career that she doesn't have time to entertain love or family concerns until her brother Charles calls her up from their family wrench to say that the farm is in financial trouble. Business minded, Hailey comes home to investigate the problem and initially clashes with ranch hand Kate. But eventually she remembers the significance of the ranch and discovers love with Kate. Oh, right. Well, that's an optimistic way to end, huh? And following that up with that great idea in 1988, that might be coming out today, which was commemorating the October 11th 1987 March on Washington for lesbian and gay rights. And based on the belief that homophobia thrives in an atmosphere of silence and ignorance. And once people know that they have loved ones who are lesbian or gay, they are less likely to maintain homophobic or oppressive views. We need to send people to Afghanistan. No, we need to send people through the south. Yeah, I think I'll pass on that one. Yeah, there you go. Optimistic spin. Yeah, there you go. In the meantime, do what you can. Work as hard as you can. Remember to vote as Kate says and resist. Resist.


As an Enneagram 4, I've noticed the process of integration between four, the blocked, creative, constantly in existential crisis, and one, the crusading reformer. As we get out of our own heads, we grow closer to a healthy one. When I walked through the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum and soaked in the exhibit of idea makers that influenced 1960s America, I realized my affinity for singing and creating was the gift I had to contribute to justice. Nobody else can be us. There's no greater freedom from writer's block than knowing that the art we produce bears purpose in the world.


I would like to comment on a statement that was made by one of our brothers in the political field, and that is my brother, Mr. Kamwili, and I'm not limited to his statement alone. I am going to limit it to the kind of politics that we need as a country moving forward. I speak first of all as a political leader in this country, but I also speak as one of the most senior BEMBA political leaders in this country who probably does understand the meaning of BEMBA words that my brother, Kamwili, used. As you are aware, you can speak BEMBA from, you know, Chinsali, which is what we call Quichinga. That's really the home ground for the BEMBA language. And then you can also speak the BEMBA from Kasama. You can also speak the BEMBA from Wapula. But having said that, I think that I've grown up in the village to understand the meaning of BEMBA words. So I'll come to that. So I come as a political leader, but I also come as a senior, if not the most senior active political leaders in the country from Northern Provinces today. But beyond that, I also would like to speak to you as a minister of the Gospel of Christ, as a pastor for 44 years. Under the context that Zambia has been declared a Christian nation, I would like to raise a red flag and actually raise a red card against the words of my dear brother, Chishimbaka Kamwili, in describing the meaning of the word that President Haga Indichilema used in the Northern Provinces. And by the way, if you didn't know, if you didn't hear about this, I don't encourage you to look for this video to listen to it because it's really not something that we need to be publishing in our nation and encourage that kind of rhetoric and speech. But the essence of the question that was raised is that President Haga Indichilema used the word in Northern Provinces that was meaning, that was saying that whenever we used to come to Kasama or Northern Provinces, our card as ourselves used to get beaten up, but he used a Bemba word, which is a street word. And then my brother, Chishimbaka Kamwili, decided to try to interpret what the President said and called it an insult. First of all, I would like to distance ourselves from that kind of thinking. I believe that when you are dealing with languages and your mind is on the language that you want to use, we find people that always look for trivialities or an immoral approach to a certain word. I would like to propose to my brother that even if he wanted to explain what that word means, it was totally inappropriate for him to go on television and begin to explain the word that he was talking about in such graphic terms. At no time did this president, and I'm not speaking for him, did he actually talk about what my brother Kamwili was talking about? He knows what he should say as a president. I do not think one would go out there and start to insult a people. The meaning that Mr. Kamwili gave to that word is not the meaning of that word, at least not in chinsali quitshing the way the Bemba comes from. I think that probably he has another interpretation of it. Any word, whether it's in English, or it's in Bemba, or any other language for that matter, can mean several things. I can give many words here today, but it depends on the attitude of those that are listening and what they want to get out of there. I think that my brother Kamwili should have concentrated on challenging President Hitchilema to prove that when they went to Northern province, they were actually being beaten. That was the message that was being pushed out there, and would like to appeal to the church that when we start to hear politicians become so base in the manner in which we speak, we should not laugh right along the population. We should not make it like a social media joke that listened to how well he insults and how graphic he was in polluting the atmosphere of Zambia, especially the minds of our young people. There is a decorum and a requirement from those of us that seek the highest office in the land. A certain level of decorum and words we can use and words we cannot use. The problem we have in Zambia, I think that we need to challenge ourselves as to whether we have agreed to be a Christian nation or not a Christian nation. And it appears to some of us that sometimes the more rogue, the more insulting, the more uncouth a politician becomes, the more popular he gets, even amongst Christians. And I think we need to ask ourselves, what do we want for our country? Why do we lie to ourselves and call ourselves a Christian nation when our behavior and conduct only uploads those that abuse the minds and the atmosphere of our nation and the minds of our young people? There are certain things I cannot say as a leader because every word I use forms an opinion in the minds of a younger generation. We are opinion creators. And when we speak the language you use as leaders, our young people are going to follow suit and use those language and that type of language. And I think let's put a standard here. That there are certain things we can say and we cannot say. So we raise a red flag and a red card against my brother in a Christian nation and in a place where you desire to be president of the Republic of Zambia. Time has come for the Zambian people and also the young people to demand, place a demand that we want a certain quality of speech, soundness, of a fear of God and a desire to do what is right in order for our country to remain on these unveils of faith. But the way we are going and I challenge the church, the body of Christ, let us not applaud vulgarity. Let us not, the media, let us not clap for those that use words that demolish every effort that men and women of all have tried to make in making Zambia a proud Christian nation. So today we would like to make this very clear. Our brother Mr. Chimba Kambuili went off course. The statement he made was uncalled for. It was uncouth. It was wrong, inappropriate in a Christian country. And it's just that I can't repeat those words. But the words that you use, my brother, that's not the meaning of that word. Yes, it talks about being violent against somebody else, but it doesn't talk about those sexual implications that you raised before our own children. We therefore ask the Zambian people, what type of leadership do you want in a Christian nation? How much do you like lies as Zambians?  How much do we prefer morality against immorality? How much do we prefer vulgar language against seasoned language? You can't clap for what is wrong, vote for what is wrong, and expect that you are going to reap what is right, and reap a generation of responsible young men who are going to guide our nation in the manner that a Christian nation should be guided. So today, I decided to come here and raise a red flag against my own brother. And it's not the only one. Today it has become fashionable. The more vulgar you are, the more popular you become. The more you lie, the more popular you become in the political process. I call on the believers, I call on all Zambians, to rise up whenever our values are challenged and messed with, to demand that our leaders line up with the morality that we wish to espouse for a Christian nation. That's all that I wanted to say. My brother Chimakambuil, if you want to be president of this country, tell me your turn. You may think it, but don't say it, because this is a Christian nation, and we are bound by certain values and decorum, and that's required of all of us that wish to become leaders. In this country. I thank you. I may God bless our great republic.