The Biden Administration is making sure trans & non-binary vets are finally seen. Jorge Diaz-Johnston fought for marriage equality in Florida and won and now he was found dead in a landfill. The Abbey that founded Benet Academy more than 120 years ago is cutting ties because the school decided to hire a lesbian lacrosse coach.

00:00 – Welcome & Intro

00:34 – The Qube Ad

00:59 – Intro Music

01:38 – The Biden Administration is making sure trans & non-binary vets are finally seen

03:05 – Jorge Diaz-Johnston fought for marriage equality in Florida and won and now he was found dead in a landfill

03:47 – The Abbey that founded Benet Academy more than 120 years ago is cutting ties because the school decided to hire a lesbian lacrosse coach

05:59 – Anna’s Got a Word

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Family, this is your favorite Queer radio personality Anna DeShawn here with our Queer news from today.

The Biden Administration is making sure trans & non-binary vets are finally seen. Jorge Diaz-Johnston fought for marriage equality in Florida and won and now he was found dead in a landfill. The Abbey that founded Benet Academy more than 120 years ago is cutting ties because the school decided to hire a lesbian lacrosse coach. 

Our leading story for today is for all my trans and non-binary veterans tuning in. The Biden administration is now allowing you to identify your gender on your medical records. The gender selections on any paperwork will now include the options of transgender female, transgender male, non-binary, and other. You will also be able to indicate a preferred name to be used on your medical records. The VA Secretary Denis McDonough said this, “All veterans, all people, have a basic right to be identified as they define themselves…This is essential for their general well-being and overall health. Knowing the gender identity of transgender and gender-diverse veterans helps us better serve them”. The VA under Secretary McDonough has seemed to take the needs of LGBTQ vets pretty seriously as he created a task force specifically focused on making the VA more LGBTQ inclusive. This task force came back with 88 recommendations for changes which the VA says will take four years to implement. Here’s to the government systems which tend to move at a snails pace to move swiftly to see these changes implemented for our trans and non-binary siblings. 

In other news, a sad story coming out of Florida. Jorge Diaz-Johnston, an LGBTQ+ activist who won a landmark court case in Miami-Dade County against the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, went missing and was found dead in a landfill. Jorge & his husband were one of six couples who successfully challenged Florida’s ban when they were denied marriage licenses in 2014. He is part of the reason Floridians won marriage equality. His husband posted this on Facebook that “He touched so many people with his kind and generous heart”. The police are treating this as a homicide. 

Our last story for today is coming out of Benet Academy in the Chicago suburb of Lisle, IL. Back in September I reported about this school because they were looking to hire a Lacrosse coach and they selected an overqualified candidate in Amanda Kammes. They offered her the head coaching position and then rescinded said offer when she put her wife down as an emergency contact. Now this news did not go over very well & the Benet lacrosse team, students, and alumni came together and protested this wrong. They collected over 3,000 signatures and presented them to the board and it worked. This very conservative Catholic school reversed their decision and hired Amanda. I was shocked and I kind of still am to be honest. It’s pretty unheard of, especially within Catholic institutions. Oh but alas this isn’t the end to this saga. Last week the group of Benedictine monks that are part of St. Procopius Abbey who founded the school more than 120 years ago and one of its biggest donors has decided to cut ties with the school. They issued a letter saying, “After much deliberation, the monks as a community have discerned that they no longer have the resources needed for governance and oversight of the Academy”. It doesn’t sound like the monks are being very good losers in this situation. Sounds to me that if the school is able to put their own governance structure in place they might be able to grow and have some freedom or liberties that those 3,000 folks wanted to see in the hiring of Amanda. Benet Academy head of school issued a statement that said, contrary to some reports circulating in the media … know of our steadfast commitment to ensuring that the Academy will maintain its Catholic identity, in the Benedictine tradition, for years to come”. From where I sit, I think that’s okay because Catholic identity doesn’t have to be the ultra conservation monks version, it can be what they want to make it. I hope they choose a more inclusive approach and not let this victory be the last. 

Family, it’s time for the word of the day. The word for today is visualize the desires of your heart. You have to be able to see it in order for your mind to really believe it. When I wake up in the morning and go into my prayer corner. One part of my practice is to visualize how my day is going to go. I see it moving along with ease as I transition from meeting to meeting. I see divine interactions that are a blessing to me and all those I interact with throughout my day. I see smiling faces and joy. I do this everyday. I also use visualization to see what I want in my future. I love my vision board because of its extra enforcement. Begin seeing yourself exactly where you want to be and if you truly believe it and focus on it daily it will surely be your reality. Till tomorrow family, peace. 

Sources 

Biden administration to officially recognize trans & non-binary veterans’ genders

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/01/biden-administration-officially-recognize-trans-non-binary-veterans-genders/

LGBTQ+ Rights Activist Found Dead in Florida Landfill

https://www.advocate.com/crime/2022/1/13/lgbtq-rights-activist-found-dead-florida-landfill-jorge-diaz-johnston

Benet Academy parts with Benedictine monks after gay coach controversy

Catholic school reverses decision to fire a gay coach after students erupt in anger

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/09/catholic-school-reverses-decision-fire-gay-coach-students-erupt-anger/

School community rallies for lacrosse coach fired for being a lesbian

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/09/school-community-rallies-lacrosse-coach-fired-lesbian/

Monks cut ties with Catholic school after lesbian lacrosse coach’s hiring

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/monks-cut-ties-catholic-school-lesbian-lacrosse-coachs-hiring-rcna11188

Trans & Non-Binary veterans can now include their gender marker on their medical records & the monks of Benet Academy have cut ties over hiring of lesbian lacrosse coach – Tuesday, January 18, 2022