Stranded Stories Sunday 6/23/24

Ariella Elm

Jun 23, 2024

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Hello and happy summer!

As has been the case so far this Pride Month, most of these stories are related to queer news in some way.

I hope this newsletter has made you aware of stories you weren’t previously aware of and that hopefully you’ve been inspired to bring attention to some of these stories and help out where you can.

Before we begin I also wanted to mention that I now have a Snapchat. There aren’t really any political creators on there, but I hope to change that. As with all other platforms my handle is @ariella.elm. Hope to see you there!

Now, let’s get started with this week’s stories!

I haven’t talked about Antisemitism in this newsletter yet, and that’s going to change today.

Venue cancels anti-LGBTQ+ antisemitic conference at last minute, upsetting bigots June 18, 2024 (LGBTQ Nation)

Nick Fuentes was setting up for his America First Political Action Conference in Detroit when it was instantly and unceremoniously canceled. According to the venue, the conference had been organized by a reputable events company in the area. The venue never considered that the event could be for the AFPAC. The second they found out, or so they say, they canceled the event.

So Fuentes tried to crash Charlie Kirk’s event also in Detroit the next day. Funny how that event that was just as gross and bigoted wasn’t canceled. He was promptly escorted out and proceeded to shout many antisemitic obscenities back at Kirk and his event.

Here’s what scares me the most. People I thought I agreed with politically are using the same language to talk about Jewish people and Israel as Nick Fuentes does in this altercation

As a Jewish person that’s terrifying. That’s the kind of thing that makes us start googling which countries accept Jewish people should we have to flee.

Please be a good Jewish ally and make sure to don’t use any of the language Nick Fuentes uses for any reason. There is no excuse for his rhetoric.

Moving right along to Baltimore Pride.

Baltimore Pride event disrupted by possible chemical agent, causing panic and injuries June 16, 2024 (The Baltimore Banner)

It’s Saturday, but when I originally found this story on Monday, it was two days after the event and we knew nothing. And the info we did have made this seem pretty terrifying. Now, almost a week later, we have more details, and while this is still terrifying because of how many people were hurt and the panic it caused, this seems to have more to do with lack of security than any intentional bigotry.

You’re probably quite confused, so let me start at the beginning.

On June 16, a week ago, Baltimore held their Pride Block Party. This is an annual event, but this year, according to some organizers, safety was a concern even before the event. It’s been held on Charles St for years, and while the organizers from the Pride Center of Maryland felt safety was a concern, louder voices from Charles St retailers prevailed and the event wasn’t moved this year.

That ended up being the wrong decision. A fight broke out near the stage between two groups (we don’t know more about that situation) and mace was sprayed into the crowd and fireworks were set off.

At first there was, of course panic that this could have been domestic terrorism or police violence, but luckily it was neither of those things.

This is not the way the Pride Center of Maryland wanted to get a safer event, but it does seem like this will convince even those Charles St retailers that the event needs to be moved to a more secure location.

It’s sad. Pride should be for anyone who wants to be there, but it’s just not safe to do that anymore. Hopefully someday in the future it can be in an open space again, but, for now, more security seems essential.

From Maryland we move to Utah and their new bathroom law.

Office of the State Auditor Completes Investigation of Two HB 257-Related Complaints June 19, 2024 (Utah Office State Auditor)

According to the ACLU HB 257, which went into effect May 1, bars trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people from accessing public restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms that are designated for one sex. It also created a place where people could report someone who was breaking this new transphobic law.

Well, according to the office of the State Auditor, they received thousands of complaints, however, all but six of those were bogus. That means that trans activists and allies have been bombarding the complaint line to make it very hard to keep the complaint line open.

This is the good news. The bad news is that six complaints were from transphobic people who were so horrified to share a bathroom, locker room or changing room with a trans person. Though, we have no idea what they were alleging took place.

Based on this press release, it seems like all six complaints were investigated, and nothing came of these investigations, though the 6th complaint was “alleging the lack of any privacy compliance plan for bathrooms in the east building of the Capitol complex” whatever that means.

While there were only six complaints that were deemed real, and none of them ended up being credible, there will be a day that someone will report a trans person just for going to the bathroom and it will be credible, and someone will be very hurt, either just emotionally or maybe even physically as a result.

We can laugh about how they only received six authentic complaints, but that’s six too many.

Let’s head over to Ukraine for a positive story. I know, you didn’t expect to read a positive story out of Ukraine, which is why it’s that much more important to tell it.

Ukraine just held its first Pride event in years despite Russia’s continued invasion June 17, 2024 (LGBTQ Nation)

Last Sunday, queer and ally members of the Ukrainian military held their first pride in three years. Kyiv Pride on Twitter posted:

KyivPride 2024 march took place! The Kyiv Pride March was held in the capital for the first time during the full-scale war. Despite the threats, the pressure, all the dangers and even the downpour, we came out to claim our rights!
For security reasons, this year the number of participants was limited, we did not publicize the time and location of the promotion. KyivPride last applied such restrictions back in 2015. Despite the fact that an action against the March took place nearby, KyivPride passed without clashes.

They go on to say that more than 500 people took part in the march, and that a big part of the march was thanking the military for their continued fighting to keep Ukrainians safe.

There were ambassadors there as well and the whole march lasted 30 minutes and they could only walk for 100 meters, which is less than 400 feet.

Kyiv Pride believes that police were too overly cautious and that they could have given them a little more leeway.

While, to those of us in the US, this might seem very small and not a win at all. Ukraine is still at war. Putin has not let up at all. Holding any kind of march or event in the middle of the street isn’t very safe right now, especially a pride event, in a country where homophobia runs rampant. These days we think of Ukraine as a more left-leaning society, and in many ways they are more progressive than their neighbors. Though all Ukrainians are against Putin in terms of stealing their land and killing their people, many Ukrainians still agree with Putin and Orban (the PM of Hungary) on queerness.

So this event is very special and very exciting, and the fact that all the security measures weren’t needed is a good sign as well.

Hopefully, the war will be over before next June and the Ukrainian queer population will be able to have a proper pride event!

And finally, for this week, we have the ADL in hot water.

ADL faces Wikipedia ban over reliability concerns on Israel, antisemitism June 18, 2024 (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

So, I get it. ADL began including pro Palestinian protests in their list of antisemitic situations, which meant that everyone was reporting a rise in antisemitic situations that wasn’t wholely accurate. This made many people take the real antisemitism far less seriously than they probably would have otherwise, and that’s a very bad thing. That said, the fact that they are the only organization facing a ban, that I can find anyway, is frustrating.

CAIR, which is essentially the Muslim version of the ADL has also said atrocious and untrue things with the director going as far as to praise the tragedy and brutality of October 7.

I do think the ADL has a lot of reckoning to do. The organization used to be the most reliable when it came to a dictionary of dog whistles and tracking antisemitism, but they have lost that credibility almost entirely in the last 9 months.

That said, I’m concerned, at best, that Wiki has singled them out, putting them on the same level as National Inquirer. They are not the only organization that should be banned for spreading falsehoods, if they are, in fact going to be, and that brings us back to why are they being singled out. Why are they not discussing banning all organizations giving bad information, why is it only the Jewish one.

I agree that the ADL should be banned, and that pains me, because they’re all we have. We don’t have another organization that does the work the ADL does. Though, I will say, The American Jewish Committee also has a hate glossary. Unfortunately, like the ADL, they include phrases like “from the river to the sea” as entirely antisemitic instead of based on context, which I think is the same rabbit hole the ADL fell into.

We are All Hostages is a group of Israeli peace activists and hostage families fighting for a ceasefire in Israel. Every day they tweet something along the lines of this: ADL, stand with us families, and reject the Netanyahu government.

The ADL has yet to listen. They believe wholeheartedly that antizionism, no matter the definition, is antisemitism, and that includes critiques of the Israeli government, even when those critiques are coming from within Israel itself.

This will be their downfall.

If they don’t want to go down in history as what not to do, they have a lot of internal reflection in their future.

I hope that one day I can yet again be proud of the ADL and use them as a resource, but that day is not today.

For another opinion on this decision by Wikipedia, check out Rob Eshman’s piece in The Forward

Want more? Here are some stories that speak for themselves. I don’t have anything to add, but I think you should know about them anyway.

Rainbow Flags vandalized near Stonewall for second straight year June 14, 2024 (Gay City news)

Martha-Ann Alito Condemns Pride Flags, the Left, and the Media June 10, 2024 (Rolling Stone)

Legal team for Tulsa Race Massacre survivors will file a petition for rehearing with the Oklahoma Supreme Court. June 12, 2024 (Deon Devon Osborne on Twitter)

Stranded Stories Sunday 6/23/24

Venue cancels anti-LGBTQ+ antisemitic conference at last minute, upsetting bigots June 18, 2024 (LGBTQ Nation)

So Fuentes tried to crash Charlie Kirk’s event also in Detroit the next day. Funny how that event that was just as gross and bigoted wasn’t canceled. He was promptly escorted out and proceeded to shout many antisemitic obscenities back at Kirk and his event.

Here’s what scares me the most. People I thought I agreed with politically are using the same language to talk about Jewish people and Israel as Nick Fuentes does in this altercation

As a Jewish person that’s terrifying. That’s the kind of thing that makes us start googling which countries accept Jewish people should we have to flee.

Please be a good Jewish ally and make sure to don’t use any of the language Nick Fuentes uses for any reason. There is no excuse for his rhetoric.

Baltimore Pride event disrupted by possible chemical agent, causing panic and injuries June 16, 2024 (The Baltimore Banner)

You’re probably quite confused, so let me start at the beginning.

That ended up being the wrong decision. A fight broke out near the stage between two groups (we don’t know more about that situation) and mace was sprayed into the crowd and fireworks were set off.

At first there was, of course panic that this could have been domestic terrorism or police violence, but luckily it was neither of those things.

This is not the way the Pride Center of Maryland wanted to get a safer event, but it does seem like this will convince even those Charles St retailers that the event needs to be moved to a more secure location.

It’s sad. Pride should be for anyone who wants to be there, but it’s just not safe to do that anymore. Hopefully someday in the future it can be in an open space again, but, for now, more security seems essential.

Office of the State Auditor Completes Investigation of Two HB 257-Related Complaints June 19, 2024 (Utah Office State Auditor)

Well, according to the office of the State Auditor, they received thousands of complaints, however, all but six of those were bogus. That means that trans activists and allies have been bombarding the complaint line to make it very hard to keep the complaint line open.

This is the good news. The bad news is that six complaints were from transphobic people who were so horrified to share a bathroom, locker room or changing room with a trans person. Though, we have no idea what they were alleging took place.

Based on this press release, it seems like all six complaints were investigated, and nothing came of these investigations, though the 6th complaint was “alleging the lack of any privacy compliance plan for bathrooms in the east building of the Capitol complex” whatever that means.

We can laugh about how they only received six authentic complaints, but that’s six too many.

Ukraine just held its first Pride event in years despite Russia’s continued invasion June 17, 2024 (LGBTQ Nation)

Last Sunday, queer and ally members of the Ukrainian military held their first pride in three years. Kyiv Pride on Twitter posted:

KyivPride 2024 march took place! The Kyiv Pride March was held in the capital for the first time during the full-scale war. Despite the threats, the pressure, all the dangers and even the downpour, we came out to claim our rights!

For security reasons, this year the number of participants was limited, we did not publicize the time and location of the promotion. KyivPride last applied such restrictions back in 2015. Despite the fact that an action against the March took place nearby, KyivPride passed without clashes.

They go on to say that more than 500 people took part in the march, and that a big part of the march was thanking the military for their continued fighting to keep Ukrainians safe.

There were ambassadors there as well and the whole march lasted 30 minutes and they could only walk for 100 meters, which is less than 400 feet.

Kyiv Pride believes that police were too overly cautious and that they could have given them a little more leeway.

So this event is very special and very exciting, and the fact that all the security measures weren’t needed is a good sign as well.

Hopefully, the war will be over before next June and the Ukrainian queer population will be able to have a proper pride event!

ADL faces Wikipedia ban over reliability concerns on Israel, antisemitism June 18, 2024 (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

CAIR, which is essentially the Muslim version of the ADL has also said atrocious and untrue things with the director going as far as to praise the tragedy and brutality of October 7.

I do think the ADL has a lot of reckoning to do. The organization used to be the most reliable when it came to a dictionary of dog whistles and tracking antisemitism, but they have lost that credibility almost entirely in the last 9 months.

We are All Hostages is a group of Israeli peace activists and hostage families fighting for a ceasefire in Israel. Every day they tweet something along the lines of this: ADL, stand with us families, and reject the Netanyahu government.

The ADL has yet to listen. They believe wholeheartedly that antizionism, no matter the definition, is antisemitism, and that includes critiques of the Israeli government, even when those critiques are coming from within Israel itself.

This will be their downfall.

If they don’t want to go down in history as what not to do, they have a lot of internal reflection in their future.

I hope that one day I can yet again be proud of the ADL and use them as a resource, but that day is not today.

For another opinion on this decision by Wikipedia, check out Rob Eshman’s piece in The Forward

Rainbow Flags vandalized near Stonewall for second straight year June 14, 2024 (Gay City news)

Martha-Ann Alito Condemns Pride Flags, the Left, and the Media June 10, 2024 (Rolling Stone)

Legal team for Tulsa Race Massacre survivors will file a petition for rehearing with the Oklahoma Supreme Court. June 12, 2024 (Deon Devon Osborne on Twitter)

Sen. Justine Wadsack gets hit by a devastating (and hilarious) ad campaign June 11, 2024 (AZ Central)

Adam Lambert tells homophobes to 'Get over it. Mind your own business' (exclusive) June 20, 2024 (Advocate)

The Supreme Court upholds a gun control law intended to protect domestic violence victims June 21, 2024 (AP)

Bisexual student challenges Pope Francis over use of antigay slurs June 22, 2024 (The Advocate)

- Lisa Blunt Rochester’s Tweet | Eugene Young suspended his campaign

- Rosendale’s letter | the VA’s response

- Forbes article

- Coast Guard IG post (second post has been removed)

- Navy IG post

- IG post 1 | IG post 2 | IG post 3

- IG Post

- PM’s Tweet

- Deadline Whitehouse plays the ad

- full music video

- IG Post | Tweet 1 | Tweet 2 | Tweet 3 | Tweet 4

- LA This Week report

- Orlando Sentinel article

- Reuters article

- the full guide

- Washington Blade article | Target press release

- The full podcast link

- Tennessee Holler tweet

- Tennessee Holler quote tweet

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