Fallout!

All this anti-LGBTQ+ animosity is having its toll on us and others, they are running scared.

NHL team won’t wear Pride jerseys, citing new Russian law

AP News

By Jay Cohen and Stephen Whyno

March 24, 2023

A National Hockey League team with a Russian player has decided against wearing special warmup jerseys to commemorate Pride night, citing an anti-gay Kremlin law that could imperil Russian athletes when they return home.

The Chicago Blackhawks, who have at least two more players with connections to Russia, will not wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys before Sunday’s game against Vancouver, a person with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press, because of security concerns involving the law, which expands restrictions on supporting LGBTQ rights. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed it in December.

The decision was made by the Blackhawks following discussions with security officials within and outside the franchise, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke Wednesday to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the move.

The Dessert News wrote…

The Minnesota Wild’s second annual Pride Night sparked confusion Tuesday after the team scrapped one of the planned events with little warning or explanation.

Although some Wild players had rainbow-colored tape on their sticks during warmups, they did not wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys. The jerseys had been advertised in advance of the game, along with the team’s plans to auction them off.

While the Washington Blade in January said,

New York LGBTQ Rangers fans were disappointed after the National Hockey League team forwent wearing the team’s special warm-up jerseys and using Pride stick tape during the team’s 7th annual Pride Night Friday.

The Rangers had promoted Friday night’s Madison Square Garden home game against Vegas Golden Knights, saying players “will be showing their support by donning pride-themed warm-up jerseys and tape in solidarity with those who continue to advocate for inclusivity.”  But ultimately the team wore their “Liberty Head” jerseys in warmups instead.

Will the Hartford Yard Goats drop their Pride Night? What about Connecticut Sun, the women’s basketball team at Mohegan Sun? Will they run scared?

And their excuse! They worry about their Russian players???? Why?

They worry that they might embarrass them? They are worried about offending the Russian people? The ones that support an invasion of a country? That “Does not compute.”

I believe that the real reason is they afraid of antagonizing their right-wing base. They are afraid that it will hurt their bottom line.

Big Or Small? That Is The Question

There is a new kid on the block, they question is will they play with others.

I am not saying that I am against them but only that we have to be be aware that it can happen and guard against it.

Pa. LGBTQ leaders create statewide advocacy organization

The group, Keystone Equality, is meant to mirror the diversity of LGBTQ communities

Philadelphia Gay News

By Michele Zipkin

February 7, 2023

In an effort to advance LGBTQ inclusion in Pennsylvania, leaders from across the state formed Keystone Equality, a nonpartisan organization with a goal of organizing statewide LGBTQ advocacy initiatives. The organization’s membership will accomplish this via community building within local, state and federal governments; and it will work to get LGBTQ community supporters elected, facilitate LGBTQ voter participation and convey to government officials that LGBTQ Pennsylvanians have political power. 

“We have been in need of a state-wide LGBT group for some time now,” said Keystone Equality Board Co-Chair Bre Reynolds, president and founder of the Clinton County LGBTQ+ Network. “Several folks came to the table from a variety of different areas to start this. It’s very necessary with the way politics are going these days, with the way that the elections shook out in the fall.”

I agree we need a  state-wide LGBT group, but… but…

Will they dominate in the state.

2011 Celebrating the passing on the
non-discrimination law 

I was there in the beginning when CT Equality was formed with a grant from Love Makes a Family. Back in 2010 the focus was on passing the gender inclusive none discrimination law. Then it kind of faded into the background but it was recreated a couple of years ago to dominate.

Back then a question was raised and never answered… what about the smaller LGBTQ orgainizations like the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective and outCT will they be pushed aside? What will happen to them in their quest for funding? What about when the media reaches out for interviews who will they ask? Will a national advocacy organization be good for the states?

Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

Saturday 9: Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (1969)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this week's song, BJ Thomas sings that he knows it won't be long until he finds happiness. What are you looking forward to today? What's going to make you smile?

Babies, puppies, kittens...

2) BJ Thomas met his wife Gloria at a bar. She was there with his drummer, but BJ let his friend know he felt a connection to Gloria and was going to drive her home. BJ and Gloria were married for 50 years, until his death. Have you and a friend ever found yourselves attracted to the same person? If yes, how did you handle it?

Nope.

3) This song is from Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, which has been called "the most entertaining Western ever made." Do you enjoy Westerns?

Yes and no. All westerns are not made the same. Some are really bloody and gory and some are not. There is a difference between old time westerns and the new blood and guts western. In the old days a bad guy in western who got shot clutched his stomach and died, not there is blood and guts splattered over the walls, and they show a body with its head blown off.

4) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of the most popular movies Paul Newman made, but he liked to say his "favorite role is philanthropist." He raised an amazing $500 million for children's charities through his Newman's Own brand. The most popular Newman's Own product is salad dressing. What flavor of salad dressing would we find in your kitchen right now?

Well if you open my refrigerators door you will see a whole row of salad dressing… some going back over a year.

I have driven by Newman's Hole in the Wall children’s camp and I usually only buy Newman's Own brand of juice, spaghetti sauce and salad dressing. The old camp burned down and the new camp is just reopening.

5) Burt Bacharach won the first of his three Oscars for this song. Yet 20th Century Fox originally wanted to cut the song from the movie, maintaining that that song and the famous "bicycle sequence" between Paul Newman and Katharine Ross were anachronistic and made the movie too long. Burt and the movie's director George Roy Hill fought for it, insisting that it helped define the optimistic character of Butch. Tell us about a time you were glad you stood your ground.

When I decided to get my MSW there was some opposition to it.

6) Edith Head also won an Oscar for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. She said that Robert Redford, who played Sundance, presented a wardrobe problem. His jawline is too strong so she had to create special wider-brimmed hats to balance it. If you could magically change one of your physical features, which would you choose? And which feature would you never change?

My face.

One thing I wish would disappear is my belly. 

7) In 1969, when this song was a hit, The Beatles played their last concert on the roof of Abbey Road Studios. When did you last climb onto the roof?

Not for a very long time ago, but I will tell you a story of when I was around 16,

We were using a snow coaster as a frisbee and it landed up on our roof. So I climbed up on the roof of the our ranch style home on the sunny side of the roof. I took one step from the sunny side to the shady side and zip… it was all ice and I slid all the down and off the roof on to the drivway.

Just then my mother came out looking for me. I zipped over her head and on to the driveway, rolled and got up. Being a teenager I tried to act nonchalant after having fallen off the roof and said “You wanted me?” Needless to say my mother was freaking out.

8) Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries sold at a brisk pace at Christmastime 1969. They're still popular today. Were you a fan?

No I was in my 20s and those books were too young for me.

9) Random question: Do you consider yourself old fashioned?

No, but the younger generation does.

***

Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid brings back many a memory for me, I went on a first date, I had graduated from high school two years earlier  and I just got a date with a high school senior that i had a crush on and we went to watch the movie.

Afterward I went out and bought the album, and somewhere I still have the ticket stub from the movie.

Another Ally Speaks Up!

More and more celebrities are speaking up for us.

Jon Stewart Lays Out the Hypocrisy of a GOP Agenda Aimed at Drag Queens in Viral Clip

Stewart read a GOP lawmaker for filth in a clip shared widely over the weekend.

them

By Abby Monteil

March 6, 2023

Jon Stewart took Oklahoma State Sen. Nathan Dahm to task for pursuing anti-drag legislation “to protect children,” while simultaneously supporting looser gun restrictions.

In a now-viral clip from the latest episode of Apple TV+’s The Problem With Jon Stewart, the host confronted the Republican politician about his pro-gun stance. 

After Dahm argued that laws requiring people to register their guns infringe on a person’s right to bear arms, Stewart said, “Even rights have responsibilities.”

The talk show host then pivoted to Dahm and the general Right’s obsession with “protecting” children from drag performers, despite the fact that guns became the number one cause of death of children in the United States in 2022. 

“Are you infringing on that [drag] performer’s free speech?” Stewart asked.

“They can continue to exercise their free speech,” Dahm replied. “Just not in front of a child.” When Stewart pushed him as to why, Dahm continued, “Because the government does have a responsibility… in certain instances, to protect children.”

“What’s the leading cause of death amongst children in this country?” Stewart fired back. “I’m going to give you a hint: It’s not drag show readings to children.”

Our allies need to speak up and hold the Republicans’ feet to the fire and hold them accountable for their lies!

Unfortunately, the fact that Stewart sticks to the facts when it comes to LGBTQ+ issues like anti-drag legislation and bills targeting trans youth while almost every major newspaper has failed to do the same speaks volumes about the state of reporting on these issues — and the very real dangers that queer and trans people face when media outlets give people a platform to spread disinformation while not providing proper context and data.

Our media outlets are being bought up mega billionaires and look out for their money and not the truth. They no longer has ties to the community just to their pocketbooks.

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Between the time I wrote this and it was going to be publish I found this... another ally.

Lynda Carter is reported by MSN that on Twitter she wrote,

I cannot think of anything that helps women’s rights less than pinning the blame on trans women. They face so much violence and scrutiny as is. Leave them alone and focus on the real war on women. It’s happening in the courts and legislatures around this country.

Special Report... WPATH Statement: Denounces the anti-trans healthcare laws

The United States Professional Association for Transgender Health  and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health Confirm Gender-Affirming Health Care is Not Experimental;

Condemns Legislation Asserting Otherwise

March 22, 2023 - 

The United States Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH) and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) denounces the emergency regulation halting gender-affirming healthcare for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) children and adolescents issued by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey as lacking scientific grounding.

The WPATH Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, now in its 8th version (SOC8), is the foremost evidence-based guideline for the provision of TGD healthcare. SOC8 is based on the best available science with input from over 100 global medical professionals and experts and represents best-practice guidelines for the provision of gender-affirming healthcare. Gender-affirming interventions are based on decades of clinical experience and research and are not considered experimental. Gender affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) is a component of widely accepted medically-necessary care for TGD people.

In addition to WPATH, the largest establishment medical associations (including the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the Endocrine Society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association, among others) have supported the provision of gender-affirming care for TGD people as medically-necessary care.

Attorney General Bailey’s claims were either taken out of context, cherry-picked, or from unverified sources. In some situations, the excerpted statements used in the regulation are later contradicted in the same study or article from which they were pulled. The resulting regulation from the AG’s office strings together non sequitur misinformation in their attempt to prohibit safe and legal health care. For example, there are no formal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approvals for many hormonal therapies across all of endocrinology, not limited to hormone replacement therapies for TGD patients, despite the medications themselves having been approved by the FDA. FDA regulations do not directly or explicitly prohibit the promotion of off-label uses and, per the FDA Modernization Act of 1997, the FDA must review all materials and peer-reviewed articles about off-label use.1 Off-label use is neither uncommon nor illegal.

AG Bailey’s information about brain swelling and blindness as a result of puberty blockers or hormone suppression therapy was taken from a 2022 FDA statement that referenced six patients who identified a plausible association between gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and pseudotumor cerebri. Of the six cases that were identified, all were assigned female at birth and five were undergoing treatment for precocious puberty - only one case identified was for transgender care.2 According to the Mayo Clinic, pseudotumor cerebri can occur in children but is most common in women of childbearing age who are obese. The most common treatment for pseudotumor cerebri is weight loss.3 Notably, at the time of the FDA’s review, symptoms had resolved in three patients and were resolving in another. In the same statement, the FDA asserts that “the incidence rate of pseudotumor cerebri associated with GnRH agonist use in pediatric patients could not be reliably established due to the small number of cases and data limitations.”4 The full FDA statement asserts a lack of information to draw such conclusions, yet AG Bailey has done so in his efforts to ban gender-affirming care.

AG Bailey’s reference to Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW) recent declaration about the risks of puberty suppression therapy and gender-affirming hormone replacement therapy outweighing the possible benefits is also taken out of context; in their press release, NBHW recommends restraint and further study regarding GAHT for people under 18, not a total ban on care.5 Furthermore, this statement includes no citations to literature or studies. In a July 2022 article published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Kristina R. Olson et al reports that five years after their initial social transition, 97.5% of TGD youth continued to identify as transgender or nonbinary.6 A peer-reviewed study from Dr. Jack Turban et al in June 2021 found that among adults who detransition or retransition, 82.5% reported at least one external driving factor including family and social stigma.7 Instead of issuing blanket bans on gender-affirming care because some TGD people may detransition or retransition, we need fewer invasive laws and policies that further entrench social and cultural stigma about TGD people and identities and more support and resources for those who detransition or retransition.

Further, AG Bailey’s emergency regulation incorrectly cites “one scientific study” that claims an exponential increase in individuals identifying as transgender because of “social factors.” WPATH is unaware of any scientific study of this nature. Likely, however, the AG’s office is referring to a 2018 report by Lisa Littman based upon parent observations and perceptions of their TGD child, adolescent, or young adult.8 At no point during this process did Littman interview, survey, or evaluate any TGD people themselves and in 2019, she issued a correction to the report stating that, 

"Rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD) is not a formal mental health diagnosis at this time. This report did not collect data from the adolescents and young adults (AYAs) or clinicians and therefore does not validate the phenomenon."

With this, Littman effectively disproves her own initial report. AG Bailey has used outdated information from a report that was later challenged by the reports’ author, yet AG Bailey’s inaccurate information remains in the emergency regulation.

Finally, AG Bailey’s citation about a study from the Endocrine Society and the rates of gender incongruence in TGD children is also cherry-picked, this time from the 2017 Endocrine Society Guidelines referencing Dr. Peggy Cohen-Kettenis’ data that only evaluated gender nonconforming children who were not necessarily transgender.9 This claim from AG Bailey is therefore not only factually inaccurate but unrepresentative of those who would be affected by this emergency regulation. More accurate data about persistence of gender identity for TGD youth can be found in Dr. Olson’s peer-reviewed study which, as noted above, reports that 97.5% of TGD youth continue to identify as transgender or nonbinary 5 years after their initial social transition.10 Further, a January 2023 longitudinal study from Dr. Diane Chen published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows an increase in positive affect and life satisfaction and a decrease in depression and anxiety for TGD youth after 2 years of hormones.11

Except for obtaining and maintaining informed consent, the latter bullet points in AG Bailey’s emergency regulation are all in contradiction to SOC8 and do not follow best practice medical guidelines. Additionally, a 2022 study from Dr. Jack Turban, et al, refuted claims about social contagion affecting gender identity.12

The emergency regulation issued by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is based upon manipulated statistics, flawed reports, and incomplete data, and prevents the provision of medically-necessary care. Medical decisions must remain between providers and patients and their families. Consistent with earlier statements, WPATH and USPATH condemn any legislative actions to restrict or prohibit access to gender-affirming health care.

---

1 Ventola, C. Lee. “Off-Label Drug Information.” Pharmacy and Therapeutics, vol. 34, no. 8, Aug. 2009, pp. 428–40. PubMed Central, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799128/.

 2Risk of Pseudotumor Cerebri Added to Labeling for Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonists. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 1 July 2022, https://www.fda.gov/media/159663/download.

3 “Pseudotumor Cerebri (Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension) - Symptoms and Causes.” Mayo Clinic, https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pseudotumor-cerebri/symptoms-causes/syc-20354031. Accessed 20 Mar. 2023.

4 Risk of Pseudotumor Cerebri Added to Labeling for Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonists. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 1 July 2022, https://www.fda.gov/media/159663/download.

 5“Updated recommendations for hormone therapy for gender dysphoria in young people.” Socialstyrelsen, 22 Feb. 2022, https://www.socialstyrelsen.se/om-socialstyrelsen/pressrum/press/uppdaterade-rekommendationer-for-hormonbehandling-vid-konsdysfori-hos-unga/.

6 Kristina R. Olson, PhD, et al. “Gender Identity 5 Years After Social Transition.” Pediatrics, vol. 150, no. 2, Aug. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-056082.

 7Turban, Jack L., et al. “Factors Leading to ‘Detransition’ Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People in the United States: A Mixed-Methods Analysis.” LGBT Health, vol. 8, no. 4, 2021, pp. 273–80. PubMed, https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2020.0437.

8 Littman, Lisa. “Parent Reports of Adolescents and Young Adults Perceived to Show Signs of a Rapid Onset of Gender Dysphoria.” PLOS ONE, vol. 13, no. 8, Aug. 2018, p. e0202330. PLoS Journals, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202330.

9 Hembree, Wylie C. “Endocrine Treatment of Gender-Dysphoric/Gender-Incongruent Persons: An Endocrine Society* Clinical Practice Guideline.” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 102, no. 11, Nov. 2017, pp. 3869–903, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2017-01658.

10 Olson, Kristina R., et al. “Gender Identity 5 Years After Social Transition.” Pediatrics, vol. 150, no. 2, Aug. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-056082.

11 Chen, Diane, et al. “Psychosocial Functioning in Transgender Youth after 2 Years of Hormones.” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 388, no. 3, Jan. 2023, pp. 240–50. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2206297.

12 Turban, Jack L., et al. “Sex Assigned at Birth Ratio Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Adolescents in the United States.” Pediatrics, vol. 150, no. 3, Sept. 2022, p. e2022056567. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2022-056567.

The Republicans twist the facts (i.e. Lying) to suit their own agenda to create fear and animosity towards us for their own political gains.

Yeah, But What About My Rights?

We see this across the country one person complains about a LGBTQ+ book and they are yanked from the self. What about the rights of all the other people to decide what they want their children to read?

The parent of a transgender child asks: What about my parental rights?

Tallahassee Democrat

By Jennifer Koslow

March 20, 2023

Florida Statute 1014 reads: "The Legislature finds that it is a fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children." If HB 1421 & SB 254 pass into law, the state needs to update its language to say: "The Legislature finds that it is a fundamental right of someparents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their minor children."

Sound familiar? Do you remember reading George Orwell's satirical novella Animal Farm? I do. I vividly recollect that the pigs on Manor Farm transformed the original tenet "All Animals are Equal" into "But Some Animals are More Equal than Others." What I never imagined, however, is that my family might be the subject of a similar dystopian nightmare.

[…]

My family, and no family I know, has ever made a medical decision regarding their transgender child without consulting a team of physicians. Having gender dysphoria is not being "confused." It is a condition where a person's feelings about their body are out of alignment with the physical traits of their body. For some (but not all), gender dysphoria creates extreme distress.

Thirty years of data on puberty blockers tell us that this is a safe medication to temporarily pause puberty. As transgender children become adolescents, gradually taking gender-affirming hormones is only done as an informed decision for them and their parents. HB 1421 & SB 254 undermines a parent's fundamental right to make medical decisions for their child in consultation with their physicians.

I am sick and tired of this being a one way street against!

“Parental Right” has become an euphemism for discrimination. It is an attempt for an end run around the non-discrimination laws.

“I don’t want my children reading those horrible books on LGBTQ+ children!” is just discriminatory. They say that they are protecting their children… from what?

Imagine sitting in a classroom and everyone knows you as Sally. And then this bill passes, and the teacher calls you James. Everyone laughs. Then the kids in the class begin to taunt you. What does the teacher do? Nothing. Why? Because, in Florida, it will be OK for a teacher and peers to intentionally misgender someone, which by its very nature is belittling. The state Constitution of Florida makes it a duty of the state to provide all children with a "uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high-quality system of free public schools." HB 1403/SB 1580 undermines every transgender child's constitutional right to feel safe and secure at school.

And the bullying, that harassment is becoming state sponsored. It is being pushed gleefully by Republican legislators.

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It used to be a badge of honor to have your book “Banned in Boston” but now…

School library book bans are seen as targeting LGBTQ content

AP News

By Scott McFetridge, Anthony Izaguirre and Sara Cline

March 20, 2023

Teri Patrick bristles at the idea she wants to ban books about LGBTQ issues in Iowa schools, arguing her only goal is ridding schools of sexually explicit material.

Sara Hayden Parris says that whatever you want to call it, it’s wrong for some parents to think a book shouldn’t be readily available to any child if it isn’t right for their own child.

The viewpoints of the two mothers from suburban Des Moines underscore a divide over LGBTQ content in books as Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds pushes an especially sweeping crackdown on content in Iowa school libraries. The bill she’s backing could result in the removal of books from school libraries in all of the state’s 327 districts if they’re successfully challenged in any one of them.

The thing is what they call “sexually explicit material” it seems to differ to what is acceptable is based on their orientation, a boy and a girl kissing… OK. A boy and a boy kissing… “sexually explicit material.”

Longstanding disagreements about content in school libraries often focus this year on books with LGBTQ themes as policymakers nationwide also consider limiting or banning gender-affirming care and drag shows, allowing the deadnaming of transgender students or adults in the workplace, and other measures targeting LGBTQ people.

The thing is what is “sexually explicit material” to one person is “racy” but not “sexually explicit” who gets to define what is and what isn’t “sexually explicit material?”

I think they hit the nail on its head…

“People are scared because they don’t think LGBTQ people should exist,” Maul said. “They don’t want their own children to be LGBTQ, and they feel if they can limit access to these books and materials, then their children won’t be that way, which is simply not true and is heartbreaking and disgusting.”

BINGO, they fear anything different form them.

In Louisiana, activists fear a push by Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry to investigate sexually explicit materials in public libraries — and recently proposed legislation that could restrict children and teens’ access to those books — is being used to target and censor LGBTQ content.

What a witch hunt that will be! Would the investigators be a bunch of old prunes and evangelicals Christians leaders? Who do you think the Republican will appoint? A broad coalition of views and a very narrow view of what is “sexually explicit material?”

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Update to an earlier story that I wrote about here.

The filibuster continues, ABC News wrote,

For the past three weeks, Nebraska State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh has been on an endless run, speaking on the Senate floor on just about every topic: legislation, fish fries, Girl Scout cookies and the movie "Madagascar."

The state's non-partisan, single-chamber legislature is ruled by Republican lawmakers, however, it takes 33 votes to overcome a filibuster, and the legislature has only 32 Republicans.

Now, Cavanaugh is heading into her fourth week of fighting an anti-LGBTQ bill that would ban transgender health care for people under the age of 19. According to a representative from Speaker of the Legislature Sen. John Arch's office, debate on the bill is set to begin on Tuesday, and is being brought to the floor sooner thanks to a deal between Cavanaugh and Arch.

Thank you Senator Cavanaugh for standing up to the tyranny for us and having our backs.

Please, Please Watch This!

ALOK sits down with Jamie Lee Curtis to explore themes of gender, race, trauma, belonging and the human condition. 

Recorded March 2, 2023 at the Upfront Summit.