Secretary Kerry recognizes Ambassador McFaul’s pro-LGBT stance in Russia
By Rhuaridh Marr
on
February 4, 2014
“That’s why he stood up for the rights of LGBT individuals.”

—Secretary of State John Kerry, in a statement regarding Ambassador Mike McFaul, who has resigned as U.S. Ambassador to Russia. McFaul has been an outspoken advocate for promoting American ideals and values in Russia, and as ambassador made clear that he was not there to improve US-Russian relations but to advance American interests — including LGBT rights in the wake of Russia’s “gay propaganda” law.
Gina Ortiz Jones was elected mayor of San Antonio in a runoff election on June 7.
The victory was historic, as Jones is not only San Antonio's first out LGBTQ mayor but the first Asian-American female mayor of a major city in Texas and the first female mayor in Texas to have served in a war.
(She's a former Air Force officer and Iraq War veteran who previously served as Under Secretary of the Air Force during the Biden administration.)
Jones is also the first mayor since 2005 to not have previously served on the city council and will serve a four-year term.
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the administration of President Donald Trump to implement its preferred ban on transgender military personnel while legal challenges to the policy are working their way through the courts.
On Tuesday, May 6, the high court granted an emergency request from the Trump administration to lift a federal judge's nationwide injunction blocking the Pentagon from enforcing the ban. The court's three liberal justices -- Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson -- dissented, saying they would have denied the request.
The preliminary injunction that has since been stalled by this latest ruling was issued in March by U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle, a George W. Bush nominee, of the Western District of Washington.
A monument honoring the gay victims of the Nazi regime -- as well as all LGBTQ people who have been persecuted throughout history -- was recently unveiled in Paris.
Designed by French artist Jean-Luc Verna, the monument consists of a massive steel star, dark on one side and reflective silver on the other. It's embedded in the public gardens close to the Bastille Plaza.
Verna, an LGBTQ activist, commented on the monument's color scheme, noting that "there's a black side in front of us, forcing us to remember.... At certain times of the day, it casts a long shadow on the ground, evoking the dangers looming over, sadly."
