Steve Lee, Editor

‘Kashish’ 2017 to crowdfund South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ film festival

MUMBAI, India — For the fifth year in a row, Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival will be raising funds to hold the eighth edition of South Asia’s biggest LGBTQ film festival through crowdfunding. The global campaign to raise funds was launched on India’s leading crowdfunding portal – Wishberry. India’s only mainstream LGBTQ film festival…

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Rainbow Railroad announces emergency response plan for LGBTQ people at risk in Chechnya

TORONTO – With recent reports of abductions, detentions, enforced disappearances, torture and deaths targeting gay and bisexual men in Chechnya, a Canadian non-profit human rights organization have announced an emergency response plan to assist those in danger. Founded in 2006, Rainbow Railroad actively assists LGBTQ people escape danger through its global network of safe routes. “Since…

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US cities and counties join states, NASTAD in fight to end the HIV and hepatitis epidemics

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD), a leading non-partisan non-profit association that represents public health officials who administer HIV and hepatitis programs in the U.S. and around the world, announced today that CDC-funded local jurisdictions will join its membership—a first in the organization’s 25-plus year history. Public health…

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Mentoring/role modeling main theme at this year’s San Diego Transgender Empowerment event

San Diego’s 14th annual Transgender Day of Empowerment ceremony was held Friday April 14 at Hillcrest’s LGBT Center. An estimated 200 + audience heard local professionals, community organizers, and youth leaders bring home again and again the message “We are here to help make it easier for you”. Scholarships were awarded to give transyouth the…

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New studies find one-fifth of surveyed homeless youth in the United States and Canada are victims of human trafficking

NEW YORK — Researchers announced findings today from the largest-ever combined sample of homeless youth in the United States and Canada, revealing that nearly one-fifth are victims of human trafficking, including those trafficked for sex, labor, or both.  The dual studies by researchers at The Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice & Research at the…

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California legislators push solutions to housing affordability crisis

SACRAMENTO, Calif., – Assemblymember David Chiu (D – San Francisco), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Housing and Community Development, was today joined by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) and Assembly colleagues to push for solutions to the housing affordability crisis that threatens California’s economy and makes life difficult for so many of the state’s…

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