Lesbian Visibility Day 2019 Roundtable: Celebrating Our History and Our Future...

Original post: LINK

Today is Lesbian Visibility Day! Last year on this day, we published a roundtable asking our writers who identify as lesbians to talk about why they chose that label and how it affects the way they move through the world. This year, we asked: What are you most proud of about the lesbian community/our history? If you also identify as a lesbian, we’d love for you to share your answer in the comments!

Riese Bernard, Editor-in-Chief

I think historically, even before we had any hope for lesbian representation or to have out lesbians to look up to, let alone vote for, it was lesbians who often pushed forward the idea that it was cool and sexy as hell to be a powerful, bossy women who demanded centrality in her own stories. We were there in the shadows all along, behind abolitionists and suffragists and environmentalists and Warrior Princesses.

I’m proud of the women who were openly lesbian even when it meant losing everything and the women who wore “men’s clothing” when it was literally illegal to do so. These days, I’m proud of the other lesbians who participated in the “Not In My Name” statement we released last year. If you’re an ally to les/bi/queer trans women, TERFs are very eager to declare that your publication cannot possibly have any lesbians controlling or writing for it. It felt really good to stand up with a bunch of other lesbians in media and be like, fuck y’all, trans women are women, the end. We haven’t changed, we’ve evolved.

Heather Hogan, Managing Editor

I’ve been thinking so much lately about lesbians whose lesbianism was very nearly erased from history by the men around them. Anne Lister set me off on it when I started reading her diaries again to prep for the HBO series. Then I went down an Emily Dickinson rabbit hole. I mean, Emily’s brother’s mistress literally erased Emily’s lover’s name from so many of her poems and even when it was restored in recent years due to forensics and the tenacity of one lesbian scholar, critics still try to explain it away as gal pals. (So many straight women out here writing poems about burrowing into their friends’ breasts.) Even Sappho! Sappho! Her legacy endured a century of straightwashing! I’m so proud to belong to an ancient community that people have tried to make invisible since its inception, but we’re still here and louder and prouder than ever. And personally, I’m proud to wear a label that the religion of my childhood and early adulthood demonized; I wear it like a badge of freedom.

Drew Gregory, Writer

I don’t know the lyrics to any songs. Anyone who knows me will confirm this. I happily sing-a-long incorrectly and after I’m corrected revert back to my made up lyrics almost immediately. But before I came out as a woman and a lesbian I already knew all of the words to “Ring of Keys” and “Changing My Major” and pretty much the entire Fun Home soundtrack. Did it raise a few eyebrows that a cis straight guy loved Fun Home so much? Or was well-versed in Cheryl Dunye’s filmography? Or didn’t care much about his Judaism except as an excuse to discuss pre-Holocaust Berlin? Sure, a bit. But it was just art. It was just history. It was just stories. And those stories were there for me until I could start telling my own. So I guess what I’m most proud of about the lesbian community is how much we care about our history, our personal histories and our ancestral histories, and how eager we are to share it with others. It’s such a generous gift to all those in the closet who will someday do the same.

Vanessa Friedman, Community Editor

When I think about lesbian history and lesbian community, I feel really proud of the way we have always told our own stories. The very first article I ever wrote for Autostraddle was about the Lesbian Herstory Archives, and the headline proves my point: “The Lesbian Herstory Archives: A Constant Affirmation That You Exist.” A few months ago I wrote about the Archives again; this time the headline read: “The Lesbian Herstory Archives Guard Our Past, Give Us Hope For Our Future.” And that’s kind of exactly what I am so proud of when it comes to our community. Lesbians have always been motivated to tell our own narratives because we couldn’t trust that anyone else would get it right. We self-published zines, magazines, books, newsletters, directories. We took photographs of the direct actions we performed, of our lovers in bed in the early morning light, of late nights at leather bars, of concerts and camping trips and every day living. We sent journals and love letters and button collections and leather jackets and bits and pieces that, when put together, made us whole, to the Lesbian Herstory Archives so future generations could hold our herstory in our hands and understand where we came from, and what that means for who we are today. We’ve told our story on Autostraddle for ten years, and we’ll keep telling our stories for forever. We know it’s important, and we know that only we can do it right.

Erin, Writer

Identifying as a lesbian is experiencing a bit of a renaissance, no? It’s very chic and sexy and unique to identify as one at the moment, on Instagram and other various social media platforms. But I’ve been one in practice for long enough to know this hasn’t always been the case (at least in my experience) both within our community and outside it. When I came out in 2004, it was not cool to be or call yourself a lesbian. Around 2010, it was cool to be a lesbian but it was not cool to call yourself one for reasons that if we’re being honest were unclear to me but have also since been abandoned. Around 2016, it seemed everyone was experiencing a burnout about what was or wasn’t offensive to identify yourself as and so everyone just existed in this catch-all existence that radicalized a bunch of terrible people who missed the point entirely. And now three years later it is semantically and conceptually cool. Good for us! I guess where I’m going with this is it’s an identity with a complicated history, but holding it at its foundation as we figure it out are some of the most resilient people you could have on your side. I feel proud to be associated with them!

Molly Priddy, Writer

I’m proud of being lesbian because that wasn’t always an easy identity to have! I came out just before college, so around 2003/4, and it was a scary thing to do; I’d been raised thinking lesbian was almost a bad word, and the world treated the word like a punchline, something to be mocked. That wasn’t a cool feeling, but I was what I was: a lady who liked ladies. It’s been interesting to watch the explosion of gender and identity in these recent years, and I’ve enjoyed watching the word lesbian make a comeback. But it’s also still a rare bird, as there are so many options of what and who we can be. I’m still a lesbian, have been for my entire life, and I’m proud that I’ve always been able to find community and support within that identity, no matter what the outside world thought of us.

Al(aina) Monts, Writer

I came out as a lesbian in 2004 on MySpace, came out as a bisexual in 2007 to my mom, came out as trans in 2016 (?), and then decided I’m a lesbian again sometime since then. Being a lesbian is a huge part of my identity. When people talk about me, I want them to know that my affinity is towards WOMEN first and foremost. Do I only sleep with/feel romantic towards women? No. But do I think women aren’t centered enough and want to do my nonbinary part to center them? YES. That’s what I’m most proud of about the lesbian community, that in this stupid world which loves to shit on women, especially trans women, we’re like HEY FUCK YOU WOMEN ARE PERFECT AND BEAUTIFUL AND WE LOVE THEM A LOT. Society does not respect women, but that’s the whole thing about lesbianism. Women are literally the whole thing. Loving women, thinking women are hot, supporting women, fucking women, building communes with women. Women are my foundation and they are the foundation of lesbianism and lesbians and I just think that’s great.

Valerie Anne, Writer

It should come as no surprise to you that my answer will be representation on TV. We’ve come so far since The Puppy Episode, and while of course we have so far to go, every time a character calls themselves a lesbian on TV I get a surge of pride. From the off-hand remarks like, “Now might be a good time to tell you I’m a lesbian,” mid-fight in Wynonna Earp, to the broader implications of Anissa being the first black lesbian superhero on TV, we’re a long way from the days where queer TV coverage was made up of mostly subtext ships one single-episode arcs. We also have more out lesbians behind the scenes, whether it’s actors or writers or creators, and it makes me feel powerful to know that people like me are helping shape the stories the world sees.

Carrie Wade, Writer

I still remember the revelatory moment when I realized that being a lesbian means I will well and truly never need a man for anything. I can invite them into my life and enjoy their presence there (and I do), but they will never be the point and I will never owe them that. What a relief. I feel very similarly to Al here, I think, and they say it better than I can. I am so proud that lesbianism means making women — women’s ambitions and victories and feelings and communities and ideas — a priority in my life. That’s the life I’ve always wanted to lead, as it turns out, and it’s because of my own circle of badass women that I know I’m getting closer to that goal all the time.

Historically speaking, I’ve also always appreciated how lesbians stepped up and fought back during the AIDS crisis.

Alexis Smithers, Writer

Hello being a lesbian has been one of the greatest gifts God has bestowed upon me, amen. There are many reasons being a lesbian is the best but among them is just finding out things about myself that I knew couldn’t be true. Before, you couldn’t pay me to care about love stories. I was the very annoying person who couldn’t pretend to be #TeamEdward or #TeamJacob because the entire time I was like love is a lie who cares, though actually maybe Twilight isn’t the best example, let me try this. I was one of those people who was like I guess it’s cool for Troy and Gabriella to get together if that’s a thing we’re gonna believe here, but I don’t see how that’s true love. When I came out? OF COURSE IT MAKES SENSE SANTANA AND BRITTANY ARE IN LOVE I WILL FIGHT YOU TOOTH AND NAIL FOR THIS LOVE. After coming out as a lesbian, I realized I’m a ridiculously sappy and hopeless romantic forever longing for everyone to have epic love stories and it’s made life a shit ton more fulfilling. I’m not going through life like I guess we gotta put up with each other and call that happiness, I’m going through liek YOU GET LOVE and YOU GET LOVE and YOU GET LOVE WE ALL DESERVE IT. Being lesbian teaches me that you’ll only learn about the parts of yourself you suffocate once you feel safe enough to let at least one of them come up for air.

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya, Writer

Like a lot of folks here, it was not always easy for me to identify as a lesbian. Something finally clicked shortly after college for me, and I finally embraced the identity I so often celebrated in others (I was reading lesbian theory during a lot of the years that I identified as “straight” lmao) for myself. Lesbianism goes way beyond who I date and love. It’s a centering of women in all aspects of my life. I’ve had incredible lesbians as mentors for my entire life, and the resilience and passion within this community is constantly astounding me. Finally identifying as a lesbian radically altered my life even just on a very personal level—it was suddenly easier for me to cry, be physically close with people, and open myself up.

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Converse debuts transgender-themed sneakers in ‘Pride Collection’

Original post: LINK
Written by: Beki Winchel

The footwear brand has been reaping praise for its marketing move that embraces diversity and inclusion. Adult sizes of the shoes are already sold out.

As PR and marketing campaigns are striving to be more diverse and inclusive, a new Converse collection hopes to take a big step.

The footwear brand recently released part of its Pride Collection, which include sneakers for both children and adults that carry the rainbow flag. This year, Converse is also offering designs that emulate the transgender flag.

The shoes represent a new frontier for Converse and other fashion brands looking to cater to a diverse consumer audience.

LGBTQNation.com reported:

… [F]or the first time, trans-themed sneakers are also available. Most other releases have been rainbow-themed as a nod to diversity although one company did produce a limited edition shoe for “bears and the men who love them.”

Converse’s lineup includes eight different designs. They’re available in both adult and children’s sizes.

Twitter users were quick to applaud the offerings:

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Prince Harry throws support behind transgender youth charity.

Original post: LINK 
Written by: Tim Fitzsimons

The Duke of Sussex's mental health charity invited Mermaids, an organization for trans and gender variant children, to join its wellness efforts.

Prince Harry’s mental health charity, Heads Together, has invited a U.K.-based transgender youth charity to join its wellness efforts, according to The Telegraph.

The charity, Mermaids, participated in a roundtable this month at a YMCA outside of London that was organized by the Royal Foundation, Prince William and Prince Harry's umbrella charity. A Royal Foundation spokesperson told the newspaper that Heads Together meets with groups like Mermaids "to best understand the issues young people are dealing with today, and gain a clear understanding of what support is being made available."

Mermaids tweeted its thanks Tuesday to the Duke of Sussex “for his unwavering support of young people and promotion of positive mental health and well-being.”

The transgender charity's participation in the meeting is noteworthy considering the vocal criticism that has been directed toward the organization — and transgender advocates more broadly — by the public and the media in the U.K.

In 2017, Prime Minister Theresa May promised to reform the 2004 Gender Recognition Act and "streamline and de-medicalize the process for changing gender, because being trans is not an illness and it shouldn't be treated as such." That led to a contentious public comment period; the full report is expected to be released this year.

According to a June 2018 YouGov poll of U.K. voters commissioned by Pink News, just 18 percent of British voters support allowing transgender people to "self-identify" when changing gender on legal documents instead of waiting for the approval of a medical panel.

"While the U.K. has made significant progress in expanding and protecting the rights of transgender people, they are currently engaged in a fierce debate about improving policies for transgender people to have their gender identities affirmed on government documents," said Sarah McBride, a transgender activist and national press secretary at Human Rights Campaign.

McBride said a "small, but vocal" group of anti-trans activists have targeted Mermaids for their work.

"To have Prince Harry so publicly and clearly embrace the lifesaving work of Mermaids sends a powerful message to trans youth across the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth that they are seen and valued," she added.

This princely support for the LGBTQ community is not new. Mermaids CEO Susie Green told Pink News that Harry called the charity's work “amazing” at a 2017 event at Buckingham Palace. That same year, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge and second in line to the throne, won the Straight Ally award from the British LGBT Awards.

In January, Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, who is pregnant with their first child, reportedly told friends that she plans to raise their child with a “fluid” approach to gender, including a gender-neutral nursery, according to Vanity Fair.

Twitter users saw echoes of Harry's mother in his outreach to the LGBTQ community. Diana, the Princess of Wales, worked to destigmatize the lesbian and gay community in the United Kingdom. During the HIV/AIDS crisis in 1987, Diana opened the U.K.’s first AIDS ward at Middlesex Hospital and made a point of being seen not wearing gloves while shaking hands with AIDS patients.

“She did this to explode the myth” that AIDS could be spread via touch, a palace spokesperson told United Press International in 1987.

A spokesman for the Royal Foundation told the Telegraph that Mermaids is one of a number of organizations "working on the frontline to support the mental health and well-being of young people in Britain."

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New Program Offers A Space For Non-Binary Mitzvahs

Original post: LINK
Written by: Simone Somekh

During middle school, Yoni Kollin took part in “Shevet,” a Jewish teen group in Los Angeles for boys post-bar mitzvah. The program, facilitated by Moving Traditions, a Jewish organization that provides progressive educational teen programming, offered a parallel program for girls, too, called “Rosh Hodesh.”

Yet for Kollin, neither program was a perfect fit.

Kollin, who is now 18 years old and a senior in a high school on the Westside, identifies as non-binary and goes by the pronoun “they.” After coming out, Kollin thought it would have been great if the organization had an LGBTQ-oriented variation of its programming.

“They had it for guys and for girls,” they said. “What about the LGBT teens?”

Last year in October, Kollin’s wish came true when Moving Traditions partnered with another organization, JQ International, to start a new monthly social and educational program for LGBTQ Jewish teenagers in L.A.

Every month, the participants gather to learn and discuss self-discovery, Judaism, gender, identity, and similar topics. The organizers named the group “Tzelem,” which means “image” in Hebrew. Moving Traditions had already been running a few online Tzelem groups for transgender, nonbinary, gender fluid, and gender questioning teens, but this was the first in-person program of its kind.

Kollin said the Tzelem group is “an extra safe space.”

“I was part of JQ, which was already a safe space for me,” Kollin said. “This group is more deep and personal. I’ve been able to open up about deeper, more emotional issues. Everybody who goes [to Tzelem], we all support each other.”

The group leader, Jodi Wedeen guides the teenagers through a different topic every month, such as healthy relationships and pushing against gender stereotypes. Her goal, she said, is to provide the participants with a safe space where they can “talk about uncomfortable issues for a couple of hours.”

Wedeen studied anthropology and sociology. She loves people, she said, and she loves to understand different people and their respective languages.

“I love Jodi so much,” Kollin said. “She’s like a cool aunt.”

JQ International was founded in 2004 to serve the Los Angeles area; it runs, among others, a teen program named “Teen Jewish Queer Straight Alliance (JQSA).” Moving Traditions, on the other hand, operates on a national scale to provide progressive educational programming for kids after their bar and bat mitzvahs, partnering with hundreds of Jewish institutions across North America. “JQ is not our traditional partner,” said Alisha Pedowitz, the California director of Moving Traditions. “Usually we work with synagogues.”

In its nation-wide programming, Moving Traditions has always welcome LGBTQ participants. The decision to start a group specifically targeted to queer teenagers, however, was part of the organization’s “goal of meeting teens where they are at,” Pedowitz explained. “We realized that our two organizations shared many of the same goals for supporting teens to feel like they are flourishing as whole, healthy, unique individuals,” she said.

Pedowitz said that both organizations work for “the broader Jewish community, not for a specific denomination.”


“It’s harder to get into some denominations when it comes to the LGBTQ community,” said Arya Marvazy, managing director of the L.A.-based JQ. “We’ve reached out to the Orthodox community.”

The gatherings take place at the JQ headquarters in West Hollywood. So far, only a few students have joined, but the organizers are aiming to gather up to ten teenagers for next year. Moving Traditions has been in charge of creating the curriculum, which the two directors said is based “heavily on research,” and on “Jewish wisdom as a source of strength to help the teenagers navigate the complexities of adolescence.”

“Teenagers get messages from society on a daily basis on how they should act and how they should be in terms of gender,” Pedowitz said. “We want to be able to push that. We want the teenagers to be themselves.”

Wedeen, the group leader, said she guides the group to discuss the identity of being both Jewish and queer. “We talk a lot about self-love and understanding,” she said. “Even though we have access to all of this technology and information, there is still an internal struggle.”

Most of the families of the participants, Wedeen said, are supportive of their kids taking part in the program. “It can be a little scary for the parents sometimes,” she said. “I’m really grateful to be one of the first people to do this—I get to give these teens a safe space where they can be themselves, without worrying of what other people will think.” “Moving into the next year, the goal is to grow the size of the group,” said Marvazy. “This experience could find its home also in New York City and in other places in the United States. The rest of the Jewish world could learn from this.”

Simone Somekh is a New York-based author and journalist. He’s lived and worked in Italy, Israel, and the United States. Follow him on Twitter @simonesomekh.

This story "A New Program Offers A Space For Non-Binary Mitzvahs" was written by Simone Somekh.

Read more: https://forward.com/life/422591/lgbtq-non-binary-mitzvahs/

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Supreme Court will take up LGBT employee discrimination cases next term!

The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether a federal employment discrimination law that bans discrimination based on sex also encompasses discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identification.

Lower courts have split on the issue that is of critical importance to LGBT rights supporters who are seeking broadened protections. The Trump administration has said that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act does not provide such protections.


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Charlize Theron announced that her 7-year-old is transgender

Original post: LINK
Written by: Alex Bollinger

Actress Charlize Theron said that her older daughter is transgender.

Jackson, 7, was assigned male at birth.

“Yes, I thought she was a boy, too,” Theron, 43, told the Daily Mail. “Until she looked at me when she was three years old and said, ‘I am not a boy!'”

“So there you go! I have two beautiful daughters who, just like any parent, I want to protect and I want to see thrive.”

Theron said that she accepts her daughter.

“They were born who they are and exactly where in the world both of them get to find themselves as they grow up, and who they want to be, is not for me to decide. My job as a parent is to celebrate them and to love them and to make sure that they have everything they need in order to be what they want to be.”

“And I will do everything in my power for my kids to have that right and to be protected within that.”

Theron has starred in a long list of major Hollywood productions, and she won an Academy Award for her work in the 2004 film Monster.

She has stood up for LGBTQ rights in the past. In 2009, she said that she would not marry her boyfriend Stuart Townsend because marriage equality wasn’t legal yet.

“I don’t want to get married because right now the institution of marriage feels very one-sided, and I want to live in a country where we all have equal rights,” she said.

“I think it would be exactly the same if we were married, but for me to go through that kind of ceremony, because I have so many friends who are gays and lesbians who would so badly want to get married, that I wouldn’t be able to sleep with myself.”

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Morehouse College To Begin Taking Transgender Men Next Year

Original Post: LINK
Written by: Errin Haines Whack

The country’s only all-male historically black college will begin admitting transgender men next year, marking a major shift for the school at a time when higher education institutions around the nation are adopting more welcoming policies toward LGBT students.

Leaders of Morehouse College told The Associated Press that its board of trustees approved the policy on Saturday.

Transgender men will be allowed to enroll in the school for the first time in 2020. Students who identify as women but were born male cannot enroll, however, and anyone who transitions from male to female will not be automatically eligible to receive a degree from the institution.

Morehouse officials hailed the move as an important step toward a more inclusive campus while affirming its mission to educate and develop men.

“I think Morehouse having the courage to speak to issues of masculinity in today’s environment is important,” Morehouse College President David Thomas told The Associated Press. “For 152 years, the world has, in some way, seen Morehouse as the West Point of black male development.”

The policy also states that Morehouse “will continue to use masculine pronouns” which it calls “the language of brotherhood.”

Morehouse is an iconic college that counts the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., filmmaker Spike Lee and former Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson as its alumni. It bills itself as the “college of choice for black men” that has instilled leadership skills in generations of African American men.

More than 1,000 colleges and universities nationwide have adopted some form of a transgender policy, including about two dozen historically black colleges. An increasing number of schools are updating admissions guidelines to ensure transgender students have a welcoming experience, said Human Rights Campaign spokeswoman Sarah McBride.

“Young people are incredibly supportive of LGBT equality, including transgender equality,” McBride said. “Schools are responding in kind. In many ways, our college campuses look like the country we’ll have in 10 or 15 years. There are a lot of reasons for hope.”

Morehouse becomes the first standalone all-male college in the country to adopt a transgender policy. Nationwide, there are only two other all-male colleges, Wabash College in Indiana and Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. Minnesota’s St. John’s University, which enrolls only men but shares a co-ed academic program with the College of St. Benedict, also has a transgender policy.

Morehouse has had challenges around LGBT issues, most notably the 2002 attack of a 19-year-old student accused of beating a fellow student with a baseball bat who he mistakenly thought was making a sexual advance.

Gregory Love’s skull was fractured in the beating. Aaron Price was found guilty of assault and initially sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The incident was widely seen as reflective of a larger and pervasive attitude toward the LGBT community among African Americans.

Thomas acknowledged that historically black colleges and universities — mainly established after the Civil War with the help of religious institutions like the Baptist and Methodist churches — face added challenges in addressing issues of gender and sexuality because of opposition in black churches.

“I can’t speak for all HBCUs, but we know in the black church there has largely been silence on this issue,” Thomas said. “I can imagine there may be people who would say, ‘Why would you even raise this?’ I say to those people we live in an era now where silence on these issues is actually not helpful. For us, as a school for men, it’s important for us to set clear expectations about what that means. That’s what we’re trying to do with this policy.”

In 2009, the college updated its dress code, in part to address a handful of students who were wearing women’s clothing on campus. The following year, Morehouse held its first Gay Pride. Morehouse offered its first LGBT course in 2013 and has a scholars program named for civil and gay rights icon Bayard Rustin.

Spelman College, an all-woman HBCU next door to Morehouse, adopted a transgender policy in 2017, and the first transgender woman graduated in 2018.

Other HBCUs with transgender policies include Tuskegee University, Howard University, Florida A&M University, Southern University in Louisiana, North Carolina Central University and Morgan State University in Maryland.

Titi Naomi Tukes — a 2017 graduate of Morehouse who enrolled as a cisgender man in 2013 but now identifies as transgender nonbinary and uses the pronouns they/them/their — said they disapproved of the policy, which they learned about in an alumni email on Saturday. Tukes said the policy is hostile and exclusionary toward transgender women and nonbinary students, and could put transitioning students in an unsafe environment if they have to leave the college.

Titi Naomi Tukes — a 2017 graduate of Morehouse who enrolled as a cisgender man in 2013 but now identifies as transgender nonbinary and uses the pronouns they/them/their — said they disapproved of the policy, which they learned about in an alumni email on Saturday. Tukes said the policy is hostile and exclusionary toward transgender women and nonbinary students, and could put transitioning students in an unsafe environment if they have to leave the college.

“You can’t control how someone feels in their body,” said Tukes, now a management consultant working in New York who added they are willing to offer input on how the policy is implemented. “The college fails at addressing and understanding the gender journey that one undergoes during their college experience, spiritually, emotionally, physically and psychologically.”

___

Whack is The Associated Press’ national writer on race and ethnicity. Follow her work on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/emarvelous.


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Second NY Venue Refuses to Host Homophobe Bolsonaro

Original post:  PINK NEWS
Written by: Eve Hartley

A second New York venue is refusing to host homophobic Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, days after the American Museum of Natural History declined.

Cipriani Hall in Wall Street declined the opportunity host the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce gala where Bolsonaro is set to be named Person of the Year, according to reports from Brazilian newspaper Estadão.



The decision was made due to pressure from environmental activists and from the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio.

Mayor Blasio came out strongly against Bolsonaro, describing him as a “dangerous man” who “will have a devastating impact on the future of our planet.”

The Brazilian president, 64, has suggested he would pull Brazil out of the Paris Accord on climate change and has said he wants to develop on the Amazon rainforest.

On April 15, the American Museum of Natural History cancelled the event after expressing concern over the booking.

“With mutual respect for the work & goals of our individual organizations, we jointly agreed that the Museum is not the optimal location for the Brazilian-Am. Chamber of Commerce gala dinner,” the museum said on its official Twitter account.

Bolsonaro’s anti-LGBT comments

Ultra-conservative president Bolsonaro has previously said he would rather his son die than be gay. “I would be incapable of loving a gay son. I prefer that he die in an accident.”

While during his presidential campaign, the president of Brazil stood by a claim that he would punch gay people if he saw them kissing in public.

Bolsonaro has also claimed that gay people want to turn children gay “to satisfy their sexuality in the future.” Bolsonaro said: “I make a connection between homosexuality and pedophilia because many of the children who will be adopted by ‘gay’ couples will be abused by these homosexual couples.”

He’s also said: “If a gay couple came to live in my building, my property will lose value. If they walk around holding hands, kissing, it will lose value.”

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