Landlord Demands LGBT Center Take Down Its Rainbow Flag

After months of planning, the city of Merced, CA (pop. 80,793) unveiled its very first LGBT community center this summer, proudly raising its rainbow flag and opening its doors to the public on August 30.

Now, that rainbow flag is being forced down.

Earlier this week, the center received a letter from the building’s landlord demanding they immediately stop flying the flag.

“We’re the first LGBT community center to happen in Merced ever,” Chris Jervis, president of Gay Central Valley, which oversees the Merced LGBT Center, told KVPR. “Having the flag up and then taking it down is a real slap in the face to the community because they felt suddenly there’s a place that welcomes them and now the flag is being taken down.”

In the letter, the landlord informed the center that only American and/or California flags were allowed to be flown over the building.

No exceptions.

“What they told us was that if we were allowed to fly our flag then the other businesses in the complex would have to be able to fly their flags as well and it would be too complicated,” Jervis explained.

Sounds like a pretty thin argument to us.

According to Jervis, the letter also stated that the center was forbidden from advertising itself by using the flagpole. But workers insist that they’re not a business, their a community center, and the rainbow flag is recognized the world over as a symbol of gay pride.

Marissa Chavez, an organizer in charge of the center, told KVPR that the lease doesn’t say anything about the flagpole, and that there had been a verbal agreement with the landlord.

“We were kind of confused because when we had gotten the building, we did ask for the key to the flagpole and we received that key,” she said.

But to avoid further conflict, Chavez said the center “complied” with the landlord’s demands. The flag is now hanging in the window and the center remains open.

The landlord did not respond to requests for comment.

5 Reasons the LGBT Community Should Not Sit Out This Election

With only a week and a half to go, the word among political pundits is that most progressive voters will stay home on November 4th. While midterm elections are not as sexy as the ones in which we get to pick a president, here are five reasons why the LGBT community should not sit out this year:

Marriage Equality

At present over 30 states have some level of marriage equality in place, but over a dozen still do not. Further, even with court after court striking down gay marriage bans, some in the deepest of red states, many conservatives are vowing to fight this issue to the bitter end. Several states that were affected by federal appeal rulings are doing everything in their power to still thwart equality. We must be just as passionate in battling their bigotry, but at the ballot box. A vote for gay-friendly candidates helps ensure we continue to have elected officials in place to appoint progressive-minded judges and to vote against bills that target gays, lesbians, and transgender people.

Transgender Rights

There's a pervasive feeling that since gays and lesbians have achieved marriage equality we have now completely won the fight against the discrimination that has long been waged against our community. However, gay marriage is only one of our battles. We cannot forget our transgender siblings who have also made gains, but are still not afforded an appropriate level of respect and dignity in this country. Transgender people are frequent victims of hate crime, with society doling out few repercussions to the perpetrators. A quick read of the news reveals a number of recent attacks, often fatal, on transgender individuals across our country, including a recent beating that made headlines in Brooklyn, New York this past week. On top of the crimes we hear about, statistics show that many transgender people who experience brutal treatment do not report attacks as many law enforcement agencies do not adequately respond to these crimes. In addition, transgender men and women endure acts of bias that go beyond the obvious and include the subtleties of employment discrimination and denial of basic services. As a community we must continue to put our powerful money, voices, and votes behind candidates that will advocate for equality on every level and do not leave any of our brethren out in the cold.

Employment Non-Discrimination

Since 1974 some form of employment anti-discrimination bill has been brought to the floor of the United States Congress with little success. Most recently a number of gay-rights groups pulled their support for the latest Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) fearing the bill would have allowed religious groups to cite objections and thus legally discriminate against LGBT employees. The more senators and congressmen we help to elect, the better chance our community has of Congress passing a fully inclusive ENDA to protect workers from dismissal simply for being homosexual or transgender.

Reward Obama

Maybe President Obama disappointed the anti-war and anti-Wall Street movements, but let's not forget so easily that Obama has stood up for our community almost more than any other group of people in the country. The White House itself is quick to remind us on its website that O's list of accomplishments include repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, ending the legal defense of DOMA, signing hate crimes legislation and so much more. Plus, we cannot minimize the fact that this president is the first one to state that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marriage. No politician is perfect, but Obama stood by us and we should show some gratitude at the polls to help to elect individuals that are more inclined to work with the president on other progressive issues, like immigration reform.

Duty

Finally, with people all over the world marching year after year, even dying for the basic right to cast a vote in an election, we have that privilege at our fingertips. According to statistics, only 37 percent of voters even went to the polls in the 2010 mid-term election. To people around the globe that live under oppressive regimes where citizens have no voice at all, we must look like a self-absorbed, lazy, and entitled nation of people. Whether we agree or disagree with the people that are vying for office, we need to get our butts off the couch and away from the computer long enough to exercise our right and let our voices be heard. Even if we despise the individuals that are running, we can always write in the name of a candidate that we don't see on the ballot. The groups of people that seek to deny the LGBT community equality and dignity have no problem mobilizing on Election Day to make their point. As a gay, lesbian, transgender, bi-sexual, and queer-affirming group of people, we must show the same diligence and advocate for our own rights at the ballot box.

The Crystal Meth Epidemic Makes Comeback in Gay Community

When Zachary* arrived at a hookup's house he was taken aback by the luxury of it all - complete with a bird sanctuary, koi pond, square pool, hot tub, waterfalls, and a covered porch with couches.

"It reminded me of a resort," the 20-year-old said. "It was beautiful, very well decorated. These people had a lot of money. The landscaping was immaculate."

But it was the bird sanctuary that he remembers best. "It was something you'd see at the zoo. It was a big cage, you could fit a car inside of it."

But this was anything but a resort. Or a typical hook up. It was a sex and meth party.

After a guy on Grindr offered Zachary and his friend free drugs, he couldn't pass up the opportunity to attend. Zachary, a recovering drug addict, had recently relapsed on crack and wanted to get high.

But he wasn't expecting a full-fledged group event when he showed up to the house in downtown West Palm Beach.

"I didn't know till I showed up. I could tell it was definitely a regular thing like once or twice a month," he said. "There was like this extravagance to it. It was very classy. They had coolers, drinks and Gatorades, a snack bar. It was a well organized event."

And of course there was sex, a whole lot of sex - unprotected.

"It was all unsafe sex. I didn't care because I was high. But I prefer bareback sex anyway," he said. "In the two days that I was there, 75 or 80 percent of the time we were having sex."

A few weeks later though Zachary did care when he worried that he might be positive himself. He wasn't.

Crystal meth usage is back on the rise in the gay community and local efforts like 'No More Meth' are coming together to tackle the problem.

The Meth Comeback

Over the past few years, there has been a resurgence of methamphetamine use in the gay community; some have even called it an epidemic.