LGBTQ News
rights
In June 1993, Newsweek ran a cover featuring two embracing women sporting pearls, denim, and outdated haircuts with a single bolded word above their heads: Lesbians. The mere existence of these women-loving-women was news unto itself – and cover-worthy news at that. I don't remem...
rights
A Georgia librarian filed a federal lawsuit this week against the county and regional library system that fired her after she included a children’s book about a transgender boy in a library display. In her lawsuit, filed earlier this week in the Southern District of Georgia, LaVo...
rights
It was impossible not to feel your heart warm when watching a video of actors Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen together. Their friendship was warm, with a level of camaraderie, candor and care, that any of us deserve, and that many coveted. But they weren’t just friends, they wer...
rights
Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. often preached that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Change, he asserted, takes a long time, but if we stay committed for the long-haul, we can bring it about. I believe that King envisioned the path toward ...
rights
More than 130 million names have been struck from India’s electoral rolls during a sweeping voter-list revision under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For transgender people and other LGBTQ Indians, the process has raised fears of exclusion from the ballot, particularly among those ...
health
A psychologist is speaking out about what it means that the president keeps taking cognitive tests, explaining that Donald Trump's doctors are likely past the point of trying to figure out whether he is suffering from dementia and are now just monitoring his decline. Former Johns...
rights
BIDDEFORD, Maine — Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau on Wednesday said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) “should not be underestimated.” “I’m not going to count her out,” the gay Democrat told the Washington Blade during an interview in Biddeford, an old textile mill city near the...
community
This story originally appeared on Out.Ian McKellen has shared a moving tribute to his late friend, Patrick Stewart.The Star Trek icon died Wednesday "following a brief and poignant journey with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body dementia," according to a post on his official X acc...
rights
This story originally appeared on Out.In announcing his death at age 86, the official X account for legendary actor Sir Patrick Stewart rightly called him an activist for human rights. William Shatner, Stewart's costar in Star Trek: Generations, also praised Stewart for his "deep...
rights
Renowned British actor Patrick Stewart, a gay rights ally who was perhaps best known for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the science-fiction TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Professor Charles Xavier in several films in the X-Men superhero franchise, died today at t...
rights
With less than a week before the midterm elections, Republicans are claiming that Democrats want to force children to transition, a wildly untrue claim with no basis in reality. Republicans have spent nearly $200 million on anti-trans ads this election cycle election, even though...
rights
In a live TV interview, British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan repeatedly called anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) a racist bigot and asked her if she was a drunk. The exchange occurred when they both appeared on the Thursday installment of Piers Morgan Uncensored, a news talk ...
safety
President Donald Trump referred to Democrat Annie Andrews as “Tranny Annie” while campaigning for Republican Senate candidate Darline Graham at the Rock Hill Sports and Event Center in Rock Hill, S.C, on Thursday. “If Tranny Annie does not have the judgment to know that sex chang...
rights
Dolores Huerta, a tireless advocate for human rights well into her 90s, died of cancer on Wednesday at her home in California, her family said in a statement announcing her death. She was 96. Huerta is perhaps best known for co-founding the United Farm Workers (UFW) union with Ch...
rights
While campaigning for Democratic US Senate candidate Scott Colom in Mississippi, out former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recalled an experience with Colom's opponent, incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), from his time in the Biden administration. Buttigieg spent muc...
rights
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had the audience laughing with a clever joke at the expense of current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth while speaking at an event supporting out congressional candidate, Cait Conley, in New York. "Speaker [Mike] Johnson sent them [mem...
rights
Police in Bahawalnagar, Pakistan, have arrested two men in connection with the death of a transgender woman who had previously filed a harassment complaint against them. Local officials with Bahawalnagar’s City B Division Police Station say the victim, Zoya Malik, was attacked by...
community
Political observers are starting to notice President Donald Trump's increasingly strange behavior at his midterm political rallies. Former White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews said his behavior makes it seem like we're "watching his cognitive decline in real time." I...
rights
Cosplayer Clara Tan was on her way home to the state of New York from an event in California when she was aggressively taken into ICE custody at the Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport without being shown the warrant. After a suspected broken foot with no m...
rights
REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — Poodle Beach has long been a draw for LGBTQ visitors to this popular beach town and on Thursday, the state of Delaware officially took notice. A large crowd gathered on the boardwalk at 11 a.m. under a perfect blue sky to witness the dedication of a new Sta...
rights
Barack Obama brutally mocked the Trump administration for its dramatic response to his joke about the president's design aesthetic while ignoring the former president's criticisms of its actual policies affecting Americans. While campaigning for Democrats in Cleveland last week, ...
rights
What if there were magic in the world, and it could give us the power to attain the things we long for in this life? That’s the question we are asked to contemplate in “Wicker,” the new film from co-writer/directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson, which adapts Ursula Witt...
rights
Early voting, and polls, give hope Democrats could have a great day next Tuesday. But I have been disappointed before. Clearly, many polls were wrong in the last presidential election, and in this year’s primaries. So, it all comes down to who comes out to vote. Democrats have ru...
rights
This story is based on LGBTQ Nation interviews with John Kyper in October and in 2025, and includes recollections from a history of his deportation that he shared with Left History in 2008. John Kyper was just a hippie hitchhiker traveling to Canada. But a backpack filled with co...
rights
A group of North Carolina drag queens have issued cease-and-desist orders to the funders of a political ad for Republican Jennifer Balkcom after being depicted as deepfaked versions of themselves dancing with Democratic opponent Jamie Ager.The ad in question, which was approved b...
rights
Nine months ago, in January of 2026, I penned a column that advocated for gender affirming care among trans youth. Providing gender affirming care to trans youth is an issue that I care deeply about, mainly because I understand and know the suffering that young trans people can f...
rights
By Marnina Miller 12 years ago, on October 23, 2014, Positive Women’s Network-USA (PWN-USA) joined Venita Ray and Morénike Giwa Onaiw, PhD in creating Day of Action to End Violence Against Women Living With HIV. They created this day in honor of Elisha Henson and Cicely Bolden, t...
rights
A female student who was banned from playing the male lead role in her high school musical filed a lawsuit against the school district on Monday, alleging she was discriminated against based on Title IX. Ana Mota, a 17-year-old senior at South Grand Prairie High School, was initi...
rights
A Virginia pastor is suing to invalidate a state ballot measure asking voters to remove the state’s 2006 constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and to add a right to marry regardless of a partner’s sex, gender, or race. Filed by the Founding Freedoms Law Center on behalf of Past...
rights
How’s this for a game of Gay Mad Libs? RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Briar Blush has been engaged in a bitter, weeklong back-and-forth with rapper Azealia Banks on X. The Twitter drama began with season 18 contestant Briar commenting on another female rapper, namely the MAGA-fied...
rights
Here's a real headline that ran on Advocate yesterday: "Democrats haven’t yet won control of Congress, but their retreat on trans rights is already underway." A retreat? Considering how strong Democrats have stood on trans issues at the federal level since the wave of anti-trans ...
rights
A court in New York rejected a claim last week from a religious clothing retailer that her constitutional rights were violated when she was fined for refusing to sell a wedding jumpsuit to a lesbian woman. She'll now have to pay $5,000 in damages and a $20,000 fine. It all starte...
rights
(Originally posted October 8, 2026) Five states have ballot measures in the 2026 midterm elections that target the health, safety, and well-being of LGBTQ people, youth and families. If passed, the ballot measures would also have negative impacts on other vulnerable youth and on ...
community
Several thousand people turned out on Oct. 27 for the 39th annual 17th Street High Heel Race, considered one of the city’s largest LGBTQ events that welcomes all city residents to celebrate Halloween. Started in 1986 by customers and staff at the 17th Street gay bar JR’s as a rac...
rights
This story originally appeared on The Advocate.Dolores Huerta, the labor rights activist, civil rights leader, and United Farm Workers co-founder, died Wednesday surrounded by family at her home in Bakersfield, California. She was 96.Family spokesperson Erik Olvera told The Assoc...
rights
This year, the Human Rights Campaign found that a record-breaking 12% of U.S. adults identify as LGBTQ, representing about 25.6 million people, according to a study of U.S. Census data. This record-high figure, combined with declining approval ratings for President Donald Trump, ...
rights
When New York Times reporter Jeffrey Schmalz collapsed at his desk in the paper's newsroom, just days before Christmas in 1990, few of his colleagues knew for certain that he was gay – he'd only shared that fact with a close circle of friends and family – and none were aware he h...
rights
Someone has been sending mailers and text messages to millions of Texas voters claiming to be from a transgender organization. The mailers, addressed to children in the households, appear to be designed to stir up anger at trans people just before the midterm elections. Now lawye...
rights
The Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser hosted the 39th annual High Heel Race on Tuesday, a drag tradition that began back on Halloween 1986. LGBTQ+ Halloween celebrations often have rich local histories — from Florida’s Wicked Manors to New York City’s Greenwich Village Parade. For Wa...
community
The United States Department of Education on Tuesday posted an image to X inspired by a popular Harry Potter gender-swapped fanfiction trend known as “Malfoid.” It is not clear whether the reference was intentional.The image in question features the “Golden Trio” of Harry, Ron, a...
rights
Trans people have become a major focus of political discussion in recent years, and as candidates across the political spectrum run anti-trans ads, the work of trans journalists is crucial. But several trans journalists spoke out recently about the danger inherent in their work i...
community
Texas Senate candidate and state Rep. James Talarico (D) eviscerated his opponent, anti-LGBTQ+ Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), after Paxton appeared not to know the age of the United States when speaking at a rally. "On July 4th, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of our countr...
rights
This story originally appeared on Out.Here's a twist just in time for Halloween.HBO Max has cast a cisgender male actor who made waves for playing a 14-year-old trans athlete in its new Harry Potter television series.The irony is that since 2020, the creator of the upcoming serie...
rights
Bry Sharland thinks of his Pink Triangle Portraits project as a quest. It’s a quest not only to memorialize the lives of queer people who were persecuted by the Nazis, but also to celebrate them and to capture the queer joy they experienced in spite of their suffering. Related Ru...
rights
The Department of Justice is suing a Maryland School District for allegedly "facilitating the secret 'transitioning' of children’s 'gender identity' at school without their parents’ knowledge or consent, in violation of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act [FERPA]." Anne...
rights
Uncloseted Media published this story on Oct. 28. This story was reported in partnership with The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. By BROOKE MIGDON | Max Sorgenfrey was sipping a coffee at a cafe in Charleston, S.C., in early October when her p...
rights
Political scientists decided to test the conservative claim that kicking transgender women out of women’s sports is primarily motivated by a desire to protect cisgender women. Their findings? Not quite true.As the researchers wrote for The Conversation, “individuals with the most...
community
An employee of the recently shuttered video game company BioWare say they were asked to remove a flag from the now-canceled Mass Effect Universe game for looking too similar to an LGBTQ+ Pride flag. In a new report by French outlet BFM TV, relayed in English language press by the...
rights
Anti-trans activists were ejected from a National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) match on Friday after unveiling a large "Save Women's Sports" banner and anti-trans t-shirts halfway through the game. According to right-wing outlet Outkick, a part of Fox News, the protest in Portlan...
rights
A Republican activist is sounding the alarm in Maine, saying that Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) hammered the nails in her own campaign's coffin by running a terrible ad that mocks Maine loggers. "The race is over," concluded Sam Patten, a former Collins staffer and the editor of a co...
culture
The 17th Street High Heel Race was held on Tuesday, Oct. 27. (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key) The post PHOTOS: High Heel Race appeared first on Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News....
rights
With Election Day a week away, it seems all that Republicans want to talk about is transgender people. The data firm AdImpact has been keeping a tally of issues-based political ads in the midterm election cycle and says that Republicans have spent $183 million on television ads t...
rights
By JESSICA CALEFATI and JUSTIN FENTON | The U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division on Tuesday sued Anne Arundel County’s Board of Education, claiming the district secretly allowed students to change their gender without their parents’ knowledge or consent. The Trump a...
rights
Sophia Hutchins, the 29-year-old MAGA supporting transgender woman who was once rumored to be the girlfriend of right-wing trans conservative millionaire Caitlyn Jenner, recently died in an accident while driving an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) near Jenner's condo in Malibu, Califor...
rights
Voters are facing a number of ballot questions this year in Virginia and Maryland. Question 2 in Virginia would codify marriage rights for same-sex couples in the state Constitution. Question 3 in Maryland would grant state lawmakers more authority to redistrict congressional dis...
rights
Comedian Adam Conover shared that his dating app bio says “bisexual” in response to a question from Nicole Byer about whether he is “queer-identified.”While not a formal coming out, the actor — known for Adam Ruins Everything and his own podcast Factually! —has been increasingly ...
rights
Currently, Republicans hold a majority across the federal government, with control of the White House and both chambers of Congress, alongside a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court. That control has allowed the Trump-Vance administration to pursue an aggressive policy...
rights
A Republican city councilmember in Dallas who participated in an ad denouncing a Democratic candidate as "dangerous" to children due to her support of trans rights was found guilty of child endangerment in connection with driving while under the influence. The ad shows Dallas Cen...
rights
MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Hampshire Congressman Chris Pappas on Monday said he has “campaigned authentically as myself” in the campaign to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). “I’m really proud of who I am, but [I am] more proud of the fact that New Hampshire embraces...
rights
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the research arm of the Department of Justice, has put out a call for researchers to study an alleged connection between gender dysphoria and violent crime. A successful application will lead to up to $1 million in federal funding to “Gene...
