Dismal outlook for anti-discrimination laws after SCOTUS hears 30...

At a marathon oral argument lasting well over two hours on Monday, a sequel to similar blockbuster 2018 and 2021 religious liberty cases again called into serious question whether the S... Show more

At a marathon oral argument lasting well over two hours on Monday, a sequel to similar blockbuster 2018 and 2021 religious liberty cases again called into serious question whether the Supreme Court of the United States will leave intact civil rights protections designed to shield the LGBTQ community from targeted discrimination and refusals to provide services in the public marketplace. While the question presented this time is technically limited to one of free speech, religiously-motivated objections to recognizing civil marriage equality clearly were again at the center of this dispute. 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis finds itself before a Supreme Court whose membership has significantly shifted to the right since a slim majority of its justices heralded nationwide marriage equality in 2015, a landmark win that Congress and President Joe Biden now feel is threatened enough to enact preemptive statutory codification, especially after the retirement of LGBTQ rights champion Justice Anthony Kennedy in 2018 and the untimely death of liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020. In every case with religious liberty implications on the merits docket since Justice Ginsburg was replaced by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the new 6-3 supermajority has stood solidly and ideologically together, and that outcome seems all but certain again here. Without outright overruling, they have repeatedly added flies in the ointment of the principle, announced by the late conservative darling Justice Antonin Scalia in a seminal 1990 ruling, that a law may constitutionally burden religion if it is facially neutral...

Club Q shooting suspect charged with hate crimes

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The suspect accused of entering a Colorado gay nightclub clad in body armor and opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing five people and wounding 1... Show more

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The suspect accused of entering a Colorado gay nightclub clad in body armor and opening fire with an AR-15-style rifle, killing five people and wounding 17 others, was charged by prosecutors Tuesday with 305 criminal counts, including hate crimes and murder. Anderson Lee Aldrich, 22, sat upright in a chair during the hearing and appeared alert. In an earlier court appearance just a few days after the shooting, the defendant’s head and face were covered with bruises and Aldrich was slumped over and had to be prompted by attorneys to respond to questions from a judge. Investigators said Aldrich entered Club Q, a sanctuary for the LGBTQ community in the mostly conservative city of Colorado Springs, just before midnight on Nov. 19 and began shooting during a drag artist’s birthday celebration. The killing stopped after patrons wrestled the suspect to the ground, beating Aldrich into submission, they said. Aldrich had been held on hate crime charges but prosecutors had said previously they weren’t sure if those counts would stick because they needed to assess if there was adequate evidence to show it was a bias motivated crime. District Attorney Michael Allen had noted that murder charges would carry the harshest penalty — likely life in prison — but also said it was important to show the community that bias motivated crimes are not tolerated if there was evidence to support the charge. This booking photo provided by the Colorado Springs, Police Department, shared via Twitter, shows Anderson Lee Aldrich.Colorado Springs Police Department via AP Allen did not det...

Julius’ Bar designated as NYC landmark in unanimous vote

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has unanimously designated Julius’ Bar — the oldest gay bar in the city and site of the 1966 “sip-in” demonstration — as an official ... Show more

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has unanimously designated Julius’ Bar — the oldest gay bar in the city and site of the 1966 “sip-in” demonstration — as an official landmark. The 11-0 vote, held during a virtual hearing on December 6, was largely symbolic because the bar was already previously protected by a broader landmark designation in the Greenwich Village Historic District, which is made up of a collection of more than 2,000 buildings across 100 blocks in Manhattan. Still, it was hailed as a triumph following a decade-long push to protect the building. Groups such as Village Preservation and the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project were instrumental in the campaign to designate the bar, which is located at 159 West 10th Street. During the hearing, the Landmark Preservation Commission’s researchers and commissioners discussed the significance of the location. Michael Caratzas, an architectural historian, retold the story of the 1966 “sip-in” that laid the foundation for the eradication of laws restricting bars from serving alcohol to LGBTQ people. The pivotal moment in queer history occurred on April 21, 1966 when four gay men with the LGBTQ rights organization known as the Mattachine Society — Dick Leitsch, Randy Wicker, Craig Rodwell, and John Timmons — went from bar to bar stating that they were homosexuals and wanted to be served drinks. Expecting to be rejected, some bars were closed and others were actually willing to serve them drinks. Finally, when the men arrived at Julius’ Bar and asked to be served, a Village Voice photographer took what wound up being an i...

Op-Ed | Action, care and compassion: My administration’s approach...

Our city is facing a crisis.  New Yorkers with severe and untreated mental illness are living out in the open, on our streets and in our subways.  They are in danger and need help, yet ... Show more

Our city is facing a crisis.  New Yorkers with severe and untreated mental illness are living out in the open, on our streets and in our subways.  They are in danger and need help, yet often, the nature of their illnesses prevents them from seeking the support they require. My Administration is determined to do more to assist people with mental illness, especially those with untreated psychotic disorders who pose a risk of harm to themselves, even if they are not an imminent threat to the public. Moving forward, we will take several key steps.  The most important is for our outreach workers, hospital staff, and police officers to be aware that New York law already allows us to intervene when untreated severe mental illness prevents a person from meeting their basic human needs, causing them to be a danger to themselves. We will continue to do all we can to persuade those in need of help to accept services voluntarily.  But we have also given our mobile crisis teams—comprised of clinicians—specific guidance for involuntarily transporting a person experiencing a mental health crisis to a hospital for evaluation.  This will occur when a person refuses voluntary assistance, and it appears that they are suffering from severe mental illness and are a danger to themselves due to an inability to meet their basic needs. We believe this is the first time that a mayoral administration has given this direction on the “basic needs” standard in official guidance. Our mobile crisis teams and police officers will also receive enhanced training on how to assist those in mental health crisis.  This will i...

Uniting young Jewish New Yorkers through queer Shabbat

OneTable, a Jewish organization that helps young adults host Shabbat dinners, brings people together by facilitating dinners in hosts’ visions of what the meal and vibe should be. Hosts... Show more

OneTable, a Jewish organization that helps young adults host Shabbat dinners, brings people together by facilitating dinners in hosts’ visions of what the meal and vibe should be. Hosts have created vegan and themed dinners, Pride feasts, and more traditional meals every Friday across the US, OneTable leaders told Gay City News. Shabbat, a day of Jewish celebration and rest, is a weekly ritual to pause, connect, reflect, and rejuvenate with family and friends at the end of the week before the coming workweek. Every Friday at sunset, many Jews and other observers unplug and connect until sundown on Saturday. “I think it’s the most incredible organization doing the most incredible work to help not only preserve and modernize Jewish ritual, but also just give an opportunity to a new generation of Jews to find community,” said Jake Cohen, a gay Jewish chef and culinary influencer. Cohen’s goal is to modernize Jewish cuisine in his business, Wake & Jake, and in ritual as a New York City Shabbat host with his Persian-Iraqi husband, Alex Shapiro, a board member at OneTable. OneTable New York board member Jake Cohen, left, and his husband, Alex Shapiro, right, at their wedding.Courtesy of Jake Cohen “We are helping empower a generation to take ownership of this ritual and make sure that they don’t turn their backs on it but instead make it a sustainable practice for themselves,” said Cohen, 28, who is a self-described “nice Jewish boy” from Queens. The gay couple’s Shabbat dinners are only one of upwards of 150 known dinners hosted throughout New York weekly, said OneTable New York Field Manager...

Supreme Court taking up case of anti-gay Christian graphic artist

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing the case December 5 of a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples, a dispute that’s the latest c... Show more

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing the case December 5 of a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples, a dispute that’s the latest clash of religion and LGBTQ rights to land at the highest court. The designer and her supporters say that ruling against her would force artists — from painters and photographers to writers and musicians — to do work that is against their faith. Her opponents, meanwhile, say that if she wins, a range of businesses will be able to discriminate, refusing to serve Black customers, Jewish or Muslim people, interracial or interfaith couples or immigrants, among others. The case comes at a time when the court is dominated 6-3 by conservatives and following a series of cases in which the justices have sided with religious plaintiffs. It also comes as, across the street from the court, lawmakers in Congress are finalizing a landmark bill protecting same-sex marriage. The bill, which also protects interracial marriage, steadily gained momentum following the high court’s decision earlier this year to end constitutional protections for abortion. That decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case prompted questions about whether the court — now that it is more conservative — might also overturn its 2015 decision declaring a nationwide right to same-sex marriage. Justice Clarence Thomas explicitly said that decision should also be reconsidered. The case being argued before the high court Monday involves Lorie Smith, a graphic artist and website designer in Colorado who wants to begin offering wedding websites. Smith sa...