- Nic F. Anderson
Queer Catch-Up: Friday, Oct. 18, 2019
Welcome back to yungmiga’s Queer Catch-Up, a weekly post where folks can catch up recent queer news and pop culture.
News Round-Up
The U.S. Supreme Court divided on LGBTQ+ employment protection cases they heard on Oct. 8; however, Justice Neil Gorsuch could be deciding vote.
The Trump administration sided with a Roman Catholic archbishop in Indiana who pushed a Catholic school to fire a gay teacher. They used the First Amendment to claim it protects the church’s right for their decision. The school defied the archbishop.
According to a recent CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, racial disparities are prevalent in HIV PrEP Discussion and Use among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. Compared to their white counterpart, there are fewer black and Latinx men who talked about HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use with their doctor or a health care provider or even used PrEP within the last year.
A Virginia teacher is now suing the school district that fired him after he refused to use a transgender student’s pronouns. A student at West Point High School in West Point, Virginia came out and asked his French teacher, Peter Vlaming, to use the him/him/his series pronouns. Vlaming refused, citing religious beliefs, but promised to use only the student’s name, avoiding pronouns. However, a lawsuit states the administration gave Vlaming an ultimatum to use the student’s pronouns or face the disciplinary consequences. The student ended up withdrawing from Vlaming’s class after being misgendered for the final time. Vlaming was suspended for insubordination, later firing him.