Mississippi Today

LGBTQ+ group protesting Mike Pence book festival appearance

Published

10 months ago

August 7, 2023

A Jackson-based LGBTQ+ organization is withdrawing its volunteer support from this year's Mississippi Book Festival due to the addition to a panel of former Vice President Mike Pence, a current Republican presidential candidate who is known for opposing the rights of gay and transgender people.

In a press release, the Capital City Pride board of directors wrote that Pence, whose long track record of anti-LGBTQ+ actions includes opposing same-sex marriage and federal funding for some HIV/AIDS prevention, “directly contradicts” the inclusive values the nonprofit advocates for in Mississippi.

“Our mission revolves around fostering an environment of equality, diversity and understanding, and we believe that supporting voices that promote hate and intolerance is antithetical to these goals,” the press release reads.

Since it was founded in 2019, Capital City Pride has staffed the “writer's breakfast” at the Two Mississippi Museums, an event for the writers and panelists, said Jason McCarty, the nonprofit's consulting director.

But after Pence was announced as a panelist, McCarty said he received dozens of calls from volunteers who were concerned about his anti-LGBTQ+ views. Now, about 25 volunteers with Capital City Pride will no longer staff the breakfast or an LGBTQ+ panel called “Out in Focus.”

Though McCarty said he has a great relationship with the Mississippi Book Festival, it did not seem appropriate for the nonprofit, which advocates for safe spaces for LGBTQ+ people, to contribute to an event Pence might attend.

In 2015, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence announced that the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services had approved the state's waiver to try a different approach for Medicaid. Credit: Photo courtesy of Indiana University Health

Pence is slated to discuss his autobiography “So Help Me God,” which is about how his evangelical Christian values have shaped his personal life and politics, at 2:45 p.m. in Capitol Room 216. Former U.S. Rep. Gregg Harper will moderate.

It was Harper's suggestion to invite Pence, said Ellen Daniels, the festival's executive director. Every year, the former congressman invites a guest with the board's approval. Harper has also been a fiscal sponsor of the festival.

Though she respected Capital City Pride's decision and thought the press release was “pitch perfect,” Daniels said that ultimately the Mississippi Book Festival's goal is to be a big-tent event. She urged people not to boycott.

“I want to put this into a kind of perspective,” she said. “Mike Pence and his session — he is one person out of over 160-plus authors appearing at the festival this year. Many of those authors have had their books banned. He is one hour out of a day with 47 hours of panel opportunities.”

Daniels also noted that last year, the festival faced pushback for refusing to rescind its invitation to Alice Walker, the acclaimed author who faced criticism for praising a book by an antisemitic conspiracy theorist. Other controversial authors at prior festivals have included Joyce Carol Oates and Karl Rove.

“We are a free speech festival,” Daniels said. “There is something for every type of reader at the festival, and we do not censor or ban books or authors.”

Pence has opposed LGBTQ+ rights since he was a congressional candidate in 2000, according to the New York Times. The former governor of Indiana launched his presidential campaign this year by advocating for a nationwide ban on gender-affirming care for trans minors. He's also called for a ban on trans people serving in the U.S. military.

McCarty said that while Capital City Pride abhors Pence's views, the nonprofit is trying to walk a line between not staffing, but still attending, the festival.

“It's kind of a gut punch but it's also like he is not going to run us off an event that we've always participated in,” McCarty said.

Capital City Pride is now asking people to attend Pence's panel, which will be broadcast on C-SPAN, and wear attire supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

The panel comes amid several efforts across the state to restrict the rights of LGBTQ+ Mississippians. Last week, the Harrison County School Board approved a policy requiring students to dress according to the gender they were assigned at birth.

Earlier this year, lawmakers banned gender-affirming care for trans youth and the University of Mississippi Medical Center shuttered an LGBTQ+ clinic after it came under legislative scrutiny.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1896

Published

16 hours ago

May 18, 2024

Staff Editor

MAY 18, 1896

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation on railroads or similar public places was constitutional, forging the “separate but equal” doctrine that remained in place until 1954.

In his dissent that would foreshadow the ruling six decades later in Brown v. Board of Education, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that “separate but equal” rail cars were aimed at discriminating against Black Americans.

“In the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens,” he wrote. “Our Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law … takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=359301

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Mississippi Today

Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur

Published

1 day ago

May 17, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Vickie King – 2024-05-17 11:53:33

Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating life when she had a life-altering epiphany…

“I gotta get out of these woods.”

She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her parents and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do.

“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south Jackson home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. “I know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.”

A variety of soaps created by Renada Stovall. Stovall is a chemist who creates all natural skin and hair care products using natural ingredients.

In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.

Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.

Renada Stovall, owner of Nadabutter, selling her all-natural soaps and balms at the Clinton Main Street Market: Spring into Green, in April of this year.

Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, “pop-up markets,” across the state during the summer. She's available via social media and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. “My turmeric and honey is really popular,” Stovall added.

“The all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use comes from West Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.”

Soap mixture is poured into a mold to cure. Once cured, the block with be cut into bars of soap.

Renada Stovall, making cold process soap at her home.

Renada Stovall adds a vibrant gold to her soap mixture.

Tumeric soap created by Nadabutter owner, Renada Stovall.

Soap infused with honey. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1954

Published

2 days ago

May 17, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-05-17 07:00:00

MAY 17, 1954

Ella J. Rice talks to one of her pupils, all of them white, in a third grade classroom of Draper Elementary School in Washington, D.C., on September 13, 1954. This was the first day of non-segregated schools for teachers and students. Rice was the only Black teacher in the school. Credit: AP photo

In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the “separate but equal” doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the law.

The historic decision brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.

In Mississippi, segregationist leaders called the day “Black Monday” and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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