WASHINGTON (BCN) – Oakland’s Amy Schneider, famous for her recent winning streak on the TV trivia game show “Jeopardy!,” visited the White House Thursday on International Transgender Day of Visibility. Schneider, who identifies as transgender, met with Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff and visited the Secretary of War room and the press Briefing Room at the White House where she spoke to reporters. “I’m just really, really honored to be here and really grateful that this is being celebrated and the trans people are being celebrated in a place like this,” she said in the Briefing Room. A reporter ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) – As San Francisco is set to redraw its district lines, a coalition of LGBTQ groups on Wednesday blasted a proposed plan that, according to the coalition, would separate LGBTQ communities. The city’s nine-member Redistricting Task Force is set to approve a new district map that better reflects the latest census results by April 15. Recently, the task force approved moving forward with a draft map that would move the Tenderloin from District 6 to a newly redrawn District 5, separating the Tenderloin from the South of Market area and enjoining it with the Western Addition nei ..read more

SACRAMENTO (AP) — California could provide legal refuge to displaced transgender youth and their families under a proposal announced Thursday that joins a growing list of initiatives from the nation’s most populous state aimed at counterbalancing actions in Texas and other conservative places. Democratic state lawmakers said they will introduce legislation to offer California as a safe haven for parents in other states who risk having their transgender children taken away or from being criminally prosecuted for supporting their children’s access to gender-affirming procedures and other health ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) — In an effort to create more safe spaces for San Francisco’s LGBTQ community, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman on Tuesday proposed creating new zoning regulations that would allow for the revival of gay bathhouses. Under Mandelman’s proposed legislation, a new zoning category for adult sex venues would be created, making way for such businesses to be permitted in historically LGBTQ-affiliated neighborhoods like the Tenderloin, South of Market, Upper Market, and Castro. The proposed legislation builds off legislation drafted by Mandelman in 2020 that updated stringent city healt ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s move to order entities in his state to investigate gender-affirming care for transgender children as child abuse is drawing reaction from across the country Wednesday, including sharp criticism from advocacy groups in California. In a letter penned to Texas’s Department of Family and Protective Services, Abbott also called on doctors and teachers to report such treatments as abuse or face criminal penalties. California State Senator Scott Weiner—who has authored legislation to protect transgender people in senior care facilities as well as ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) – San Francisco Pride announced this week it will return to in-person events this June for the first time since the pandemic as the nonprofit also prepares for a change in leadership this year. “I think what stands out for me about my time here at San Francisco Pride is being really heartened by the resilience of our community of the ways we have consistently faced challenges with love and compassion,” said Outgoing Executive Director Fred Lopez. Lopez was in charge of the organization for the past two years, overseeing its journey through the COVID-19 pandemic. While the ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — A blood shortage exacerbated by the COVID pandemic is adding support to an effort to change the FDA’s longstanding ban on donations by sexually active gay men. Since the pandemic began, the Vitalant donation site in San Francisco — like blood banks across the country — has been scrambling to find enough donors. “Businesses aren’t holding blood drives, schools aren’t holding blood drives and we’re having to cancel and reduce our number of blood drives for staffing issues,” said Vitalant spokesperson Kevin Adler. Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic sexually active gay ..read more

OAKLAND (CBS SF) – A shooting in Downtown Oakland early Friday morning claimed the life of a transgender adult, police say, in the city’s 129 homicide of the year. Shortly after 4 a.m., officers were called to the 1400 block of Castro Street, near Interstate 980, on reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, officers found the victim with apparent gunshot wounds. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Their identity is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. No additional information about the shooting was immediately available. Anyone with information about the case i ..read more

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) – After millions of HIV-related deaths, Wednesday marks World AIDS Day commemorating the lives lost and the ongoing fight to find a cure. Now National Aids Memorial organizers want a new light display at the Memorial Grove at Golden Gate Park, to honor people still living with HIV and the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in this country to AIDS. “It’s important to remember a memorial is so much more than names engraved in stone or panels lovingly stitched together to create the quilt,” said National AIDS Memorial CEO John Cunningham. One of those young lives lost was Ja ..read more

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A Navy ship named for slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk, who served four years in the Navy before being forced out, was christened and launched in San Diego Bay on Saturday. The replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk slid down the shipyard ways after a bottle of champagne was smashed on the bow by former Navy officer Paula M. Neira, clinical program director for the John Hopkins Center for Transgender Health. Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk, and Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro watched the traditional ceremony. USMC Colonel Alison Thompson, left, talks with Jenn Onofrio, center, a W ..read more