I volunteered to be on the conference planning committee of Say It Out Loud (SIOL), a project of the Washington Council for Behavioral Health. This annual conference, at which I’ve presented for the last four years, addresses substance use, mental health and other health issues facing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) communities
Today we remember the victims of the Pulse shootings in Orlando, Florida. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others injured. The shooter was also killed. It was the deadliest shooting in U.S. history. No one really knows why the Pulse was selected as the target. After all, there are many other gay bars in Orlando,
Today is the anniversary of D-Day when British, Canadian and US soldiers – 160,000 of them – landed on Normandy beaches in treacherous weather, initiating the Western Allied effort to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi Germany. Kelly and I, along with some friends, visited Normandy five years ago. We went to Juno and Omaha beaches and then to
Fifty years ago, starting in the 1960’s, activists and Pride events had tremendous purpose: we were literally fighting for our families, for our rights, for our lives. “Pride was more than a march – it was a manifesto,” said Boston Globe’s Renee Graham in her article today. She adds, “With 21st-century progress came complacency. Of