July 2016 Suggested Retail Price $2.95

Antonio Davon Brown, 29 ● Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 ● Stanley Almodovar III, 23

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 22Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 ● Luis S. Vielma, 22K.J. Morris, 37 ● Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30

Anthony Luis Laureano Disla, 25Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 ● Amanda Alvear, 25 ● Martin Benitez Torres, 33

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 ● Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 ● Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 ● Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 ● Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26

In MemoriumJune 12, 2016

Enrique L. Rios Jr., 25Miguel Angel Honorato, 30

Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32

Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19Cory James Connell, 21

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37

Luis Daniel Conde, 39

Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33, ● Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 ● Darryl Roman Burt II, 29

Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 ● Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 ● Jerald Arthur Wright, 31Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 ● Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 ● Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 ● Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 ● Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24Christopher “Drew” Leinonen, 32 ● Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 ● Paul Terrell Henry, 41Frank Hernandez Escalante, 27 ● Akyra Monet Murray, 18 ● Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24

Orlando, FL

“So if there was ever a moment for all of us to reflect and reaffirm our most basic beliefs that everybody counts and everybody has dignity,

now is the time.”

President Barack Obama

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35

United in Strength ● United in Spirit ● United in Resolve

ISSN: 2372-2207

2 Diversity Rules MagazineJuly 2016

Inside This Issue (partial listing) A PTSD Memoir ............................................. Page 3 Transgender Ban Ended ................................... Page 4 Time for Gun Control ..................................... Page 6 Jewish Film Festival .......................................... Page 7 Shorts ............................................................... Page 8 Amazon Trail .................................................... Page 11 President’s Remarks .......................................... Page 16 Puerto Vallarta is Gay Destination ................... Page 17 Resources and Diversions .................................. Page 22

Welcome to the July issue of Diver-sity Rules Magazine. It is a somber issue memorializing the massacre of 49 of our fellow compatriots in Orlando, Florida. What a dffer-ence one year makes.

Last year we were celebrating a momentous victory before the Supreme Court when same sex marriage was legalized throughout the land. Pride celebrations were brimming with excitement and joy that a major battle had been won despite the efforts of our detractors who tried to deny us our right to marry.

This year, however, pride celebra-tions have been marked with me-morial services remembering those who died in a horrific mass shoot-ing at the hands of a confused ho-mophobic maniac. Our souls were rocked on that fateful 12th of June when news rang out all over ma-jor news outlets that another mass shooting had occurred. This time

in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

It is unfathomable how a person can harbor such hate in their heart for their fellow humans. We should be used to it by now, but how does one get used to the killing of inno-cent people for no apparent reason other than just to do it or to do it because it i s grounded in hate and contempt for someone who is dif-ferent and does not fit one’s mold of how society should be.

This latest mass shooting has awak-ened a sleeping giant. The LGBTQ community has been jolted with the deaths of 49 of its own. De-mands for gun control and other measures to help stave off more Orlandos have been heard all over the country.

Will something finally be done? That remains to be seen. With an

My Two Cents - Con’t on page 15

Diversity Rules MagazinePO Box 72

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Diversity Rules Magazine

3Diversity Rules MagazineJuly 2016

David-Elijah Nahmod is a film critic and re-porter in San Francis-co. His articles appear regularly in The Bay Area Reporter and SF

Weekly. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter.

David developed Post Traumatic Syndrome Disor-der (PTSD) after surviving gay conversion therapy as a child and has found that many in the LGBT community suffer from severe, often untreated emotional disorders due to the extreme anti-gay traumas they endured. This column chronicles his journey.

In July 1990, Congress enacted the Americans With Disabilities Act, a wide ranging civil-rights law meant to prevent discrimination based on disability.

Each July, people with disabilities celebrate the passage of this important legislation.

Disability comes in many forms: blindness, deafness, loss of limbs, as well as emotional and mood disorders such as manic depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder--all are among the conditions covered by ADA Law.

“The numbers are staggering,” said Scott Monette. “Al-most 57 million Americans are living with a disabil-ity. Two thirds of whom are completely outside of the workforce. It struck me that this is the last significant minority group that is outside of mainstream society in the country.”

Monette feels that raising disability awareness and vis-ibility will bring about much needed positive changes to the lives of people who are disabled. “Disability could touch each and every one of us,” he points out. “Disability cuts across race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and income levels. On top of the 57 mil-

lion Americans living with disabilities there are another 100 million Americans where someone they love has a disability. That is almost 53% of the total American population.”

These are issues which Monette understands all too well. His own son is disabled. “Matthew, 20 years old, is deaf, and is on the autism spectrum,” Monette explains.

Inspired by his son’s disabili-ties Monette launched 100 Percent Wines, a company dedicated not only to fine wines, but to helping the dis-abled find their way into the workforce.

“I wanted my work to have meaning and to try to ad-dress an issue that was becoming more and more rel-evant for our family as Matthew got older, his employ-ment,” Monette said. “I started talking to everyone about potential job opportunities and really did not see a pathway for Matthew or others that I was excited about. The more people I spoke to, the more I didn’t hear anyone talking about fundamentally changing the employment prospects for this population. I was naive enough to want to try.”

Monette explained why he chose wine as his product. “Wine is about celebration,” he said. “I wanted to have this conversation in a positive and uplifting way, not focused on social justice or discrimination. You have a bottle of wine with family or friends because you are celebrating something. I thought that if we could bring people living with disabilities into this conversa-tion over a glass of wine, that would be interesting.”

Monette added that in his view, helping people to find work is the best social program. “It’s about dignity and respect,” he said. “A job unlocks economic possibili-ties, but think about the self-confidence and pride you

PTSD Memoir - Con’t on page 10

If You Could Read My MindRaising A Glass to the Disabled

By David-Elijah Nahmod