LGBTQ News
rights
Although Laith Ashley De La Cruz came out as gay at age 17, he came out as trans at age 19, after watching videos made by transgender people on YouTube. He has since become quite possibly the only out trans male Hispanic model ever to appear in mainstream US media. "When I was a ...
health
On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance was filmed making assertions about Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico’s sexuality at a Republican campaign rally in Tyler, Texas. At the rally, which took place at the old terminal of Tyler Pounds Regional Airport, Vance stood at a...
rights
Students, parents, and businesses from the Sonoma Valley High School community in California are pushing back after the school board voted last Friday to remove a Progress Pride flag bearing the school's dragon mascot, which has flown on the school's outdoor flagpole since 2019. ...
community
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is hosting its 10th anniversary celebration of the opening of its Center Arts Gallery on Saturday, Oct. 17, at the Center’s offices at 1827 Wiltberger St., N.W., from 6 – 9 p.m. “For 10 years, the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center’s Arts Gallery has be...
safety
Anti-trans activist Riley Gaines is getting mocked online for ranting about how she believes Hillary Clinton is stuck in the past because she recently mentioned Donald Trump winning his first election in 2016. People are pointing out that Gaines herself built an entire career out...
rights
A jury in Michigan on Friday agreed with two Grand Rapids TV newsroom directors that they were fired without justification in 2023 after they sent a memo to staff directing them to "discern the newsworthy-ness" of Pride events covered in the area and "consider how to make the sto...
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Clinical and forensic psychologist John Paul Garrison said last week that a brain lesion or damaged brain tissue may be to blame for President Donald Trump's slurred speech during his October 2 rally at the University of South Alabama in the city of Mobile. “President Trump seems...
safety
Out former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said on October 3 that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should resign amid the US military's strategic failures in its ongoing war with Iran. Speaking with Eugene Daniels, co-host of MS NOW's The Weekend, Daniels asked Buttigieg ab...
community
People are blasting the BBC online after the public service broadcaster appeared to censor a T-shirt with a positive message about transgender people last Saturday night.On October 9, a video was posted on BBC’s Instagram of House of the Dragon actress Bethany Antonia during a da...
rights
Senegal’s ongoing crackdown on its LGBTQ+ community is not only increasing fear and stigma on the West African coast, but it is likely also violating international human rights laws as well as protections guaranteed by the country’s own constitution, according to a new report fro...
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The liquor was flowing, the dice were rolling and the women were plentiful. Down on 14th Street in the U Street corridor in 1946, at Club Madre, your thirst could be quenched and your vices satisfied. At the center of it all was a large, dark-skinned woman whose taste for mink, m...
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Donald Trump had a lot to say about Sen. Jon Husted's (R-OH) body at a campaign stop in Youngstown, Ohio. "I’m standing over here, and I don’t do this with men very often," Trump said before describing what he was thinking as Husted spoke, with Trump standing behind him. "I start...
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When the Welsh government in 2021 embarked on what Deputy Minister of Social Partnership Hannah Blythyn described as a project to make Wales “the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe,” Welsh scholar Norena Shopland was commissioned to help train librarians, museum staff, and arc...
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Sept. 12 is a solemn day for the people of Turkey. It is the anniversary of the 1980 coup d'état — when members of the National Security Council, along with the armed forces, dissolved the Turkish parliament, arrested hundreds of thousands of people, and entered a three-year peri...
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The BBC announced Tuesday it is creating a two-part documentary about Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s rise to popularity as a beloved figure in children’s literature and the subsequent controversy over her anti-transgender views, encompassing the last several decades of her li...
international
Anti-LGBTQ+ Fox News host Jesse Watters said during an episode of The Five that he would never "let" his wife, Emma, run for a high office and that some men just don't like their wives working. "I know a lot of guys… We don’t like our wives working," Watters said while discussing...
rights
A gay couple in Slovakia is suing the government over its refusal to recognize their marriage as legal. Ivan Novotný, 31, and Metod Špaček, 51, wed in Austria in 2020, and under a 2025 ruling by the European Union's highest court, Slovakia must register the marriage. Related Slov...
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The GOP's relentless attacks on LGBTQ+ rights and dignity over the past two years have not driven the record number of LGBTQ+ adults back into the closet, according to a new report from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. In fact, the hostile climate seems to be having the oppo...
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Industry actress and Them cover star Myha'la Herrold is opening up about her recent elimination in the third episode of The Celebrity Traitors season two on the BBC.In response to an Instagram commenter who said she was eliminated “because you are BLACK” and called the social ded...
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Who cares about the WNBA's policy on trans players when there are no trans players in the WNBA? A new analysis suggests that, well, no one actually cared. This past summer, WNBA player Sophia Cunningham made some transphobic comments about sports, saying that she wants "to protec...
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Spooky season is here, making it a fantastic time to talk about queerness and horror. More precisely, it's a chance to explore how the horror genre emerged and transformed our perspective on queer identity. Horror is far more political than most people realize. Personally, if sci...
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The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at comingsandgoings@w...
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Billionaire transphobe Elon Musk allegedly cut off his daughter Vivian Jenna Wilson's health insurance coverage the day after she came out as transgender. Wilson's mother, Justine Wilson, made this claim in Musk, the newly released nearly four-hour documentary about Musk's global...
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As the Trump administration’s new press secretary, Katie Zacharia, prepares to hold her first White House press briefing on Tuesday morning, online sleuths have uncovered her past social media posts that push conspiracy theories, including the debunked, anti-LGBTQ+ QAnon theory o...
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Days after President Donald Trump called Annie Andrews, the cisgender Democratic nominee for South Carolina’s U.S. Senate seat, an anti-transgender slur on social media, Andrews came out against transgender girls and women participating in sports. Trump called Andrews a “trannie”...
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New York’s Long Island, which is just 50 miles from the Stonewall Inn, is a reliably red enclave where President Trump won easily in 2024. Chris Gallant, an openly gay Democrat running for New York’s 1st Congressional District, which includes the eastern side of Long Island, is t...
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LGBTQ exclusion may be costing Japan as much as ¥16.42 trillion ($10.35 billion) annually, according to a new report by Open for Business, which argues that greater inclusion could help address the economic pressures facing a country with a shrinking population and workforce. Jap...
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The 2025-2026 school year experienced a record number of book bans, according to a new report from PEN America. Public schools across the country saw 12,000 book bans during that time period, the largest number in a single year since PEN America began tracking in 2021. The organi...
rights
A man convicted of killing a Black transgender woman should have been allowed to use the victim’s sex assigned at birth as part of his defense, a Tennessee appellate court ruled last week. In its October 5 ruling, a three-judge panel for the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals ov...
culture
Dr. Annie Andrews, the Democrat running for the Senate seat from South Carolina, slammed her opponent, Sen. Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC), for calling her a "socialist" and had a response that social media found trenchant. "I told you my opponent was going to call me a socialist,...
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A federal judge last month dismissed a case by a Christian spa worker claiming she was a victim of religious discrimination after she was suspended in 2023 for refusing to give a trans woman a tour of the facility. Jeriah Sellers sued Hershey Entertainment after the company suspe...
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Twenty years ago, in October 2006, the Equality Forum of Philadelphia christened 31 LGBTQ+ persons as History Month Icons. Almost all of them were big stars in the sky: author James Baldwin, comedian Ellen DeGeneres, congressman Barney Frank, lesbian pioneer Barbara Gittings, art...
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Donald Trump claimed in a speech on Friday that it is becoming unacceptable for kids to use the term "mom." The president was mocking a New York bill focused on updating language in state law surrounding surrogacy and parentage to "gestating parent" and "non-gestating parent" rat...
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Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito doesn't believe the Court will overturn marriage equality, despite his strong opposition to the ruling. In a CBS News interview promoting his new book, So Ordered: An Originalist’s View of the Constitution, Alito said the Court's overturning of ...
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Republican California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is targeting Spanish-speaking voters with an AI-generated ad that shows a caricature of a trans girl playing soccer against high school girls. The ad even features an AI-generated version of his Democratic opponent, Xavie...
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The BBC is facing backlash after the broadcaster was caught electronically removing a pro-trans rights message from a dancer's T-shirt on Strictly Come Dancing. While recording the October 10 episode, Bethany Antonia, an out lesbian actor from House of the Dragon appearing on thi...
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The GOP is a sinking ship, and the rats are deserting- well, the other rats. With just three weeks to go before Election Day, Republican candidates are trying their best to convince voters that they really don't always agree with everything their leader is doing. A new analysis f...
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Two measures on the ballot in Washington are asking voters to legalize targeting and discrimination of LGBTQ youth. The measures would also have extremely negative consequences for all girls, their families, and other vulnerable youth. IL26-638: Requires gender inspection of girl...
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The Center for Black Equity held its annual BE. Gala at Conrad Washington, D.C. on Saturday, Oct. 5. Lolita Leopard Miyake-Mugler and Anthony Oakes co-hosted the awards ceremony. Honorees included journalist and producer Justin Stewart; nonprofit leader Nikki Alexander; HIV advoc...
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The punk subculture, in its idealized form, brought people from all walks of life — mostly outcasts and weirdos — together to make music and art. But nowadays, if you ask most people to picture a generic 1970s punk, they'll likely imagine a sneering white guy with a mohawk and a ...
safety
‘The Lost Brontë’By Catherine Friendc.2026, Bywater Books$22.95/335 pages Mom always said to tell the truth. One lie leads to another and another and you have to remember them all until pretty soon, you’re caught. Fibs are hard, mistruths are messy, even little white social lies ...
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In 2024, the Republicans ran on platforms of hatred and fear bolstered by promises of an economic paradise. Two years on, and Americans can see how those promises have played out. The atrocities committed by ICE have been thorough and well-documented, and they haven’t made anyone...
community
CAMP Rehoboth will host its annual Block Party celebration on Sunday, Oct.18 at 11 a.m. on the second block of Baltimore Avenue in downtown Rehoboth Beach. CAMP Rehoboth invites all community members to join in the festivities and to expect magnificent performances and dozens of ...
safety
Musician Brandi Carlile recently opened up about how becoming a mother helped her finally feel at ease as a gay person. “When I really felt comfortable in the world as a queer person was, weirdly, when I had kids," Carlile said, as reported by People, while being honored during a...
rights
Justice Samuel Alito said that marriage equality should be overturned because it makes Christians look bad for opposing it Really: “In dissent from [Obergefell v. Hodges], I expressed my worry that equating the expression of certain views with bigotry – or, if you like, with dign...
rights
Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson has a stark message for Democrats caving on trans rights: "You're doing too much and getting too little." Robinson made the comment while speaking to The Advocate during a roundtable discussion with reporters on Monday. She added, "...
safety
Jessica Waddell-Lewinstein Kopp was raised amongst a vibrant queer community. Her dad was gay Olympic athlete Dr. Tom Waddell, who also founded the Gay Games. Her mom was activist Sara Lewinstein. Waddell died from AIDS complications when Kopp was just three, and she spent her ch...
safety
Sure, this spooky season has blessed us with a lot of new horror on TV and at the movies, but when it comes to Halloween, you can never have too much horror to watch. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of celebrated queer chillers that queer horror fans may know about b...
health
“I see you. You're valid. You're enough. I’ve got your back.” It’s a simple message, but for many trans youth and adults, letters of affirmation, even from total strangers, can be lifesaving. It's why messages like the above are the heart of an effort by Point of Pride, a nationa...
rights
Editor's note: Chandreyi Guharay is the global advocacy officer for Walking the Talk. She spoke with queer activists from around the world at World Pride 2026 in Amsterdam about the impact of shrinking aid. Queer activists and Dutch NGOs gathered at Amsterdam City Hall as part of...
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The effects of a newly amended law rolling back self-determination for transgender people in India have been documented in a survey of those caught between medical ethics and the conservative government's anti-trans agenda: the doctors responsible for their trans patients' care. ...
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Here are this week’s most popular positive stories, with some fun social media posts tossed in too. Like seeing uplifting content like this? Sign up for our Good News email. Autumn is here, and though the weather is getting cooler, our weekly Good News Roundup is full of brightne...
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Many people think the telltale signs of drug addiction include sweating and vomiting. But a prominent addiction medicine physician says the best signals aren't always so visible. Dr. Yngvild Olsen says more accurate signs come from the brain, specifically the compulsion to keep u...
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Conservative commentator Katie Zacharia will be the Trump administration's new press secretary, The New York Times reported on Friday. Her record of transphobic commentary on Fox News makes her the perfect spokesperson for Trump's endless crusade to eradicate trans people from ci...
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A new Australian study links a growing, toxic culture of anti-transgender hate online with higher rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts among trans Australians, who described the stigma they encountered online as "relentless," "omnipresent," and "inescapa...
safety
The New Jersey queer bar Pint fired its Wednesday night trivia host and donated all of this last trivia night's proceeds to sexual violence prevention programs after the host awarded Best Team Name to a group called “Cornell 7 inches,” a reference to the seven Cornell University ...
rights
Navi Pillay, a South African human rights lawyer who received the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, immediately mocked President Donald Trump upon learning of the honor. “If you clap a little bit more, I may share this prize with Trump,” she said in Nuremberg, Germany. A crowd la...
health
Friday, October 9 Go Gay DC will host “Out in DC LGBTQ+ Community Social” at 7 p.m. at Hotel Zena. This is a chance to relax, new friends, and enjoy happy hour specials at this classic retro venue. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite. Saturday, October...
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The owners of a New Jersey gay bar have issued a public video apology after hosting a trivia night at which a team competed under a name that mocked the story of an alleged gang-rape at Cornell University.As the Hoboken Daily Voice reported, patrons of the bar Pint in Jersey City...
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Nearly 12,000 books were banned by public school districts nationwide during the 2025–2026 school year, according to a new report from PEN America, which also found that artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly driving bans that specifically target LGBTQ+ literature. Accordin...
