What's the so-lled 'Don't Say Gay' bill that uld impact the whole untry : NPR

Contents:

• A GAY VETERAN REMEMBERS SERVG IN SILENCE
• FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'
• WHAT'S THE SO-LLED DON'T SAY GAY BILL THAT ULD IMPACT THE WHOLE UNTRY
• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• HOW A GAY ST. LOUIS PASTOR TRIGGERED A WAR WH THE PRBYTERIAN CHURCH AMERI
• HOST OF 'MAKG GAY HISTORY' REFLECTS ON G OF AGE DURG THE AIDS CRISIS
• ARI SHAPIRO ‘NPR’ HOST ON GAY WEDDG, WHAT HE & HBAND EXPERIENCED
• HOW A GAY COMMUNY HELPED THE CDC SPOT A COVID OUTBREAK — AND LEARN MORE ABOUT DELTA
• GAY USA

A GAY VETERAN REMEMBERS SERVG IN SILENCE

A Gay Veteran Remembers Servg In Silence.

Joseph Patton, at home Santa Moni, Calif., told StoryCorps last year that he was given an unsirable discharge for beg iends wh openly gay men the ary. Des before openly gay Amerins were legally allowed to serve the ary, Joseph Patton, a gay man, served silence.

" The 1993 Clton-era policy known as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" took an outright ban on gay service members and replaced wh a policy that allowed homosexual and bisexual people to serve the ary as long as they didn't reveal their sexual orientatn. When he served, Patton relled top ary brass actively enforcg the ban when he went to a gay bar San Diego wh other service members.

FLORIDA'S ERNOR SIGNS NTROVERSIAL LAW OPPONENTS DUBBED 'DON'T SAY GAY'

"They had ary police walkg around to check and see if there were any service men any of the gay bars, " he said. Although Patton kept his sexual orientatn private, he was ultimately penalized bee he was part of a social circle that clud gay men who opened up to learship about their sexualy.

And I was kicked out of the service for beg iends wh a homosexual, " he relled. The bill, which some opponents have lled "Don't Say Gay, " was signed by DeSantis on Monday. The "Don't Say Gay" moniker om crics of the measure who blast this ia and sist this policy will hurt LGBTQ children.

"Florida's HB 1557, also known as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed to law, " the statement read. Sanrs is one of jt a few black and openly gay podst hosts digal media, and the tersectns of his inty are only heightened at Natnal Public Rad, where people of lor are few and far between, and queer people of lor even more so. Demonstrators gather on the steps of the Florida Historic Capol Mm ont of the Florida State Capol March Tallahassee, Fla, prottg what opponents ll the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

WHAT'S THE SO-LLED DON'T SAY GAY BILL THAT ULD IMPACT THE WHOLE UNTRY

Hoe Republins have troduced legislatn that some crics are scribg as a natnal "Don't Say Gay" bill – spired by the ntroversial Florida law that bans stctn on genr inty and sexual orientatn krgarten through third gra class.

THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS

Crics of the measure dubbed the Florida law "Don't Say Gay" and argue that s tent is to margalize LGBTQ people and their fai.

HOW A GAY ST. LOUIS PASTOR TRIGGERED A WAR WH THE PRBYTERIAN CHURCH AMERI

A feral 'Don't Say Gay or Trans' bill... Activist Er Reed, who tracks anti-transgenr legislatn, argu that the parison to a "Don't Say Gay" bill mimiz the potential effects of this proposed legislatn. "Don't Say Gay/Trans was foced on 'classroom stctn' which was bad enough, " she wrote on Twter.

At the time, gay troops weren't allowed the ary. But two years to his enlistment, Steffanis got spotted at a gay bar near his base.

HOST OF 'MAKG GAY HISTORY' REFLECTS ON G OF AGE DURG THE AIDS CRISIS

"They cut my locker open and found some gay magaz, " he says. Not only was agast the ary regulatns, gay sex was still illegal Virgia, and many other stat.

"They threw me the brig, put me on bread and water — was huiatg --for beg gay, " says Steffanis. " As long as they kept secret, gay and lbian troops uld serve. Rumors sprouted about how he wasn't datg women or had reported on others for g homophobic slurs.

In the years sce, the tegratn of gay and lbian troops has been herald as a huge succs wh no effects on un hn or bat reads, acrdg to the Pentagon. At the time was uncharted terrory, and Alexanr, by then a litenant lonel, sat a room full of senr officers talkg about how to handle gay service members. "I said, you know what, 'I'm a gay service member, ' " he said.

ARI SHAPIRO ‘NPR’ HOST ON GAY WEDDG, WHAT HE & HBAND EXPERIENCED

Alexanr's first project was wh the San Francis-based veterans chary Swords to Plowshar, tryg to help gay veterans wh other-than-honorable discharg. "I put up flyers all over the Bay Area the gay bars, plac I knew that the LGBTQ veterans would equent.

And that's where he met Stephan Steffanis, 20 years sce his discharge om the Navy for beg gay.

Frank BniColumnist, The New York Tim@FrankBniFormerly the chief rtrant cric for The New York Tim, Bni ma history 2011 by beg the Grey Lady's first out gay lumnist.

HOW A GAY COMMUNY HELPED THE CDC SPOT A COVID OUTBREAK — AND LEARN MORE ABOUT DELTA

The Emerson College assistant profsor is also a producer of the upg film Michael, based on his Tim Magaze piece about his "ex-gay" iend. Kate FaganWrer, ESPN@KateFagan3ESPN ntributor and lumnist Kate Fagan wr about basketball (and genr and sexism and homophobia) om a place of knowledge and ep, personal appreciatn.

Nonthreateng gay male. There is no sgle gene rponsible for a person beg gay or a lbian.

The study of nearly a half ln people clos the door on the bate around the existence of a so-lled “gay gene.

GAY USA

In s stead, the report fds that human DNA nnot predict who is gay or heterosexual.

It is worth keepg md that this study only vers some typ of sexualy — gay, lbian and cis-straight — but don’t offer many sights to genr inty.