J. Manny Santiago is an American Baptist pastor from Puerto Rico and executive director of the Washington State LGBTQ Commission since October 2019. [1] [2] [3] As of October 31, 2022, he was a member of the board of trustees at Tacoma Community College. [4]
He was born and raised in Puerto Rico. He has said one of the reasons for him leaving Puerto Rico for the mainland United States was due to homophobia in Puerto Rico. [5] Santiago graduated from Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, Massachusetts with a Master of Divinity. [6]
A gay man, [7] he is an advocate of LGBTQ rights within Christianity. [8] In 2023, he spoke at "Love, Equally", an exhibit in Olympia, Washington which celebrated the legalization of same-sex marriage in the state, [9] and has criticized states which have banned gender-affirming care for transgender people. [5]
The Log Cabin Republicans (LCR) is an organization affiliated with the Republican Party which advocates for equal rights for LGBT+ Americans, by educating the LGBT+ community and Republicans about each other.
The Seattle Gay News is a weekly newspaper aimed at the Seattle and Puget Sound area LGBT community in the U.S. state of Washington. As of 2023, the SGN is distributed to every library in the King County Library System, Seattle Public Library System, and Pierce County Library System, as well as roughly 115 other locations in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellingham, Spokane and Ocean Shores.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the United States are among the most advanced in the world, with public opinion and jurisprudence changing significantly since the late 1980s.
LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, commonly shortened to Victory Fund, is an American political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of out LGBTQ+ public officials in the United States. Victory Fund is the largest LGBTQ+ political action committee in the United States and one of the nation's largest non-connected PACs.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Puerto Rico have most of the same protections and rights as non-LGBT individuals. Public discussion and debate about sexual orientation and gender identity issues has increased, and some legal changes have been made. Supporters and opponents of legislation protecting the rights of LGBT persons can be found in both of the major political parties. Public opposition still exists due, in large part, to the strong influence of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as socially conservative Protestants. Puerto Rico has a great influence on the legal rights of LGBT citizens. Same-sex marriage has been legal in the commonwealth since July 2015, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Tajikistan face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Both male and female types of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Tajikistan, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to heterosexual married couples.
Washington Citizens for Fairness | Hands off Washington (H.O.W.) was created in 1993 to defeat Washington State ballot initiatives 608 and 610, which threatened the civil rights of state and local public employees based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) people in American Samoa face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Same-sex sexual activity became legal in the territory in 1980, but same-sex couples may not marry. Same-sex couples married legally in other jurisdictions are recognized and must be treated equally under US federal law since 13 December 2022. American Samoa remains the only part of the United States along with select Native American tribal jurisdictions to enforce a ban on same-sex couples marrying.
Pedro Julio Serrano is a gay and HIV+ human rights activist and president of Puerto Rico Para Todes, a non-profit LGBTQ+ and social justice advocacy organization founded in 2003. He is a former advisor to former New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito and former San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. He served, for more than three years, as executive director of Programa Vida and Clínica Transalud of the Municipality of San Juan. He now works as Director of Development at Waves Ahead.
Laurie A. Jinkins is an American politician, attorney, and public health official from Tacoma, Washington who serves as a member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 27th district. A Democrat, she has served as Speaker of the House since January 2020.
In the United States, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people have a long history, including vibrant subcultures and advocacy battles for social and religious acceptance and legal rights.
The state of Washington is seen as one of the most progressive states in the U.S. in regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) rights; with jurisprudence having evolved significantly since the late 20th century. Same-sex sexual activity was legalized in 1976. LGBTQ people are fully protected from discrimination in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations; the state enacting comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation regarding sexual orientation and gender identity in 2006. Same-sex marriage has been legal since 2012, and same-sex couples are allowed to adopt. Conversion therapy on minors has also been illegal since 2018.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people in Puerto Rico have gained some legal rights in recent years. Same sex relationships have been legal in Puerto Rico since 2003, and same-sex marriage and adoptions are also permitted. U.S. federal hate crime laws apply in Puerto Rico.
The National LGBTQ Wall of Honor is a memorial wall in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, dedicated to LGBTQ "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes". Located inside the Stonewall Inn, the wall is part of the Stonewall National Monument, the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to the country's LGBTQ rights and history. The first fifty inductees were unveiled June 27, 2019, as a part of events marking the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. Five honorees are added annually.
Bárbara "Soraya" Santiago Solla was a pioneer of the transgender community in Puerto Rico as well as the first person in Puerto Rico to change the gender designation on their birth certificate following gender reassignment surgery.
Ingersoll Gender Center is an American non-profit organization based in Seattle that provides peer-led support groups, advocacy and community organization for transgender and gender non-conforming people in the Puget Sound region. It is one of the oldest organizations serving said community in the United States.
Marsha C. Botzer is a Seattle based activist and non-profit administrator who has been working in the Transgender rights movement since the mid-1970s. Botzer is a trans woman herself. She founded Ingersoll Gender Center in Seattle in 1977, making it the oldest non-profit organization working in the space of transgender rights. Botzer was also an early member of Hands Off Washington and a founding member of Equality Washington, as well as Out in Front Leadership Project.