by Elise
Students of Riverside Middle School, in Watertown, Wisc., walked out of school on May 14 and 15, protesting the ban of Riverside’s wind symphony playing Gay man Omar Thomas’s “Mother of Revolution!” It was composed both to commemorate an anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising at the Stonewall Inn, a turning point in the LGBTQ+ rights movement, and in honor of the late Marsha P. Johnson, who was a major participant at Stonewall. The wind symphony rehearsed the piece for an entire year and then the Board nearly unanimously voted for the ban—even though students and parents spoke up for the performance. The Board says they don’t want children to be indoctrinated nor to be exposed to a “radical curriculum.” The protesters, including parents, want LGBTQ+ students to be supported and freedom of expression.
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Largest Trans flag. Photo: Trans Justice Meanjin Fb page
The world’s largest Trans flag was unfurled in Brisbane, Australia, on International Trans Visibility Day in protest of Australia’s gender-affirming care restrictions. People under 18 years old cannot get hormone blockers in the Northern Territories, and they can’t get hormone treatments in Queensland state. Trans people are experiencing discrimination in healthcare, education, employment, housing and the justice system. Their new Trans flag means Trans people won’t be erased. Trans people and their supporters in the U.S. resisting anti-Trans laws and executive orders of President Trump were the inspiration for the flag.
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Bonolo Solelo and Tsholofelo Kumile, a Botswanan Lesbian couple, have brought a lawsuit against the government in their fight to make same-sex marriage legal. If they win the hearings in July, Botswana will become the second African country with legal same-sex marriage. They want recognition because they love each other and for practical reasons. For example, they want the same hospital visitation rights and the same rights and protections widows and widowers of heterosexual couples in Botswana enjoy. Supporters of same-sex marriage in Botswana include the Ricki Kgositau Foundation, a Trans support group, and the Connexional LGBTQIA+ Task Team within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa. Unfortunately, opposition from the government and groups like the Dingwetsi Association which supports “traditional womanhood” and Botswana House of Prayer and Transformation, has undermined some public support. Two years after the 2019 landmark ruling decriminalizing same-sex relations, about 50% of Botswanans said they were either in favor of or neutral about having same-sex neighbors. Now, that number in current polling is 41%.