Week of Jul 21 · July 21, 2026
This week in United States: 10 top stories. 3 community events.
"This Week in United States" is a server-rendered weekly summary auto-synthesized by LGBTQ News from live local-news, weather, alert, and event data. The opening paragraph and section selections are dynamically composed each request, drawing from the latest indexed coverage. This page updates throughout the week as new stories, events, and weather conditions develop.
Recent reporting and curated coverage across every beat we cover.
The Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing and support services for homeless LGBTQ youth in the D.C. metro area, announced on July 20 that its founding executive director, Brian Watson, has passed away. In a statement the Alston Foundation called Watson “one of Washington, D.C.,’s most pass
A 30-year-old Florida man who shot and paralyzed his 24-year-old LGBTQ+ neighbor after months of harassment pleaded guilty to attempted manslaughter and will now face seven years in prison. The attacker, Tyler Getchell, pleaded guilty last May 4 to shooting Kyle McFarlane. The Florida Times-Union re
President Donald Trump claimed last Wednesday that the CHIPS Act, a bipartisan law signed by former President Joe Biden to invest $52 billion to improve computer chip manufacturing in the U.S., required companies accepting the funding to be run by transgender executives. His claim is completely untr
The global organizing body for professional women's tennis will institute a new policy on Tuesday requiring all competitors to undergo testing to confirm their female sex. The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) announced that the policy will "preserve the integrity of women’s professional tennis and m
A gold-colored statue of Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin, unveiled outside the Capitol yesterday, is facing heavy criticism online. The 12-foot statue was installed outside the Capitol building on Third Street on the National Mall and was paid for by a group of cryptocurrency investors, according to
One Iowa school district has learned the hard way that targeting teachers for helping students can be a real drag. Three teachers who were sanctioned for helping to facilitate a student-led drag show have received a settlement of $150,000 from Iowa’s Ankeny school district, per a July 20 report from
This story originally appeared on The Advocate.Fox News host Jesse Watters warned jokingly that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to screen troops’ testosterone levels could contribute to a culture of sexual violence in the military, and the network has said nothing about it since“Yeah, I want t
Martin O’Donnell, a Trump-endorsed Republican and the composer of music for popular video games like Halo and Destiny, is challenging a Democratic incumbent in a race that could decide control of the House in the midterms. He called LGBTQ+ people part of the abyss that America is facing, in a video
A second transgender sex worker said she was hired by the recently deceased Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Her claim comes one week after another trans sex worker came forward with her own story about Graham. "Lindsey Graham was one of my clients. This transphobic, homophobic man can rot in hell," Tayl
The parents of a transgender teen who died by suicide earlier this year are speaking out about the toll Idaho’s anti-trans laws and the Trump administration’s anti-trans crusade took on their daughter. “You worry about that hatred being internalized, and that’s what happened to my kid,” Elyse Thorpe
This story originally appeared on Out. J.K. Rowling is back in the hot seat.The Harry Potter appears to be taking a break from X, after posting another flurry of transphobic rants against a British podcaster and out transgender woman.Freda Wallace became the latest target of the Rowling's ire last w
We have always said that this fight has never really been about trans people. It has been about control. It’s the power to define what people can and can’t do, how they can look, and how they can participate in society. It’s been a fight for basic rights that we’ve fought hard for over the last hund
Transphobes and racists have been mad ever since the cast for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey was announced in May — and they can stay mad. Despite their feeble attempts to boycott the film over casting Elliot Page as Sinon and Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy, the film grossed $124 million domestica
Donald Trump is being roasted for accidentally revealing his true height after standing next to someone who is actually the height that the president has long claimed to be. Trump has maintained for decades that he stands at six feet three inches, a height even confirmed by doctors on his White Hous
Frank Larue Asher, described by friends and family members as an acclaimed urban gardener who operated a nonprofit nursery business in D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood from around 2008 until his retirement in 2018 when he moved to Cumberland, Md., and served on the board of a local museum, died July 15. His
Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, recently postulated that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has a "really kinky" sex life. Biden made the comment during an appearance on the progressive political podcast, I've Had It, with host Jennifer Welch. Welch asked him which three MAGA men's laptops he
An Australian announcer is getting attention for his hot-mic moment in which he said Donald Trump could be edited out of a World Cup clip. Spain won the final match of the World Cup yesterday, and since the U.S. hosted the championship, Trump presented the trophy to the winning team at the stadium i
Attorneys for gay former FBI employee David Maltinsky, who was fired from his job as a non-agent employee at the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office in October 2025 after more than 16 years of service for displaying an LGBTQ Pride flag at his workstation, filed court papers on July 15 opposing a motion b
As a target of constant right-wing vitriol, elite shitposter Hunter Biden knows a thing or two about Republican hypocrisy, and he elaborated on the subject during an interview on the latest episode of the hit podcast I’ve Had It with Jennifer Welch and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan. In the episode, publish
Official executive agency social media accounts have been posting hateful content since Donald Trump took office again last year, but two memes shared last week drew particular attention. First, the White House posted "Patriot Guidelines" on Wednesday, presenting the correct and incorrect ways to th
A gay senior conservative politician in Germany resigned Saturday after facing outcry that he and his husband added to their family with the help of an American surrogate mother. The politician himself – Jens Spahn, the parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Socia
Transgender medicine for everybody. That’s the rule now, that’s the goal.Look, it’s hard to bring a genuine smile to my face these days. Between dodging wildfire smoke and avoiding parasitic produce, the summer of 2026 has felt downright Biblical in a bad way. But the one thing I can rely on to make
By KYLE GOON | It was midmorning, and the March winds lashed against the faces of the players on the Ferals rugby team as they suited up at a park in Frederick. The turf was frozen. Harper Ockert, 24, wrapped her left knee with tape, stabilizing her joint for the jarring hits to come. She had strugg
Donald Trump's lesbian niece and clinical psychologist Mary Trump eviscerated her uncle's handling of the Texas floods, calling his recent comments on the tragedy a "grotesque display of self-promotion." The president recently visited the disaster zone where more than 130 people, including at least
A group of supporters crowded inside of the new Equality Loudoun Community Center in Leesburg, Va. on Saturday for an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Air quality issues stemming from the wildfires in Canada required the ceremony to be held indoors. Local elected officials were joined by LGBT
The one think that Donald Trump will never admit to being is a loser. That's especially true when he is one. So Trump took to television last Thursday to lie yet again about his defeat in the 2020 presidential election and to pave the way for disputing — if not outright discarding — the results of t
Since I was a teenager, I have liked sci-fi because of the depth with which it explores social issues. At the time, I didn’t know that I was autistic and queer, so I couldn’t see myself in other autistic and queer people. Instead, I saw myself in androids, mutants, telepaths, and sometimes aliens wh
A converted arts space in an unconsecrated church in Sydney is at the center of a row over free speech between Catholic organizations and LGBTQ+ artists in Australia's first city. The diminutive 150-year-old building, in the heart of Sydney’s central business district, hasn't been a church since the
JR.'s Bar held a "RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars" watch party followed by a live drag show on Friday, July 17. The Vitamin C weekly drag show was hosted by Citrine with performers Brooke N Hyman and Rosie Beret. (Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford) The post PHOTOS: Vitamin C at JR.'s appea
A trans staff member at the University of Kansas is speaking out after someone reported her for using the women's restroom in violation of the state's anti-trans bathroom ban. Siobhán Kirchstein works as a janitor at the school's Kansas Geological Survey. She told the Lawrence Times she has used the
Donald Trump flipped out at a journalist who brought up an accusation that an unnamed person was a "pedophile," and she had one "clinical-grade" question in response. CBS News's Norah O'Donnell asked Trump in an interview on Sunday about Cole Allen, the man who allegedly opened fire on the White Hou
The 2026 Rehoboth Beach Pride Festival was held at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center on Saturday, July 18. (Washington Blade photos by Daniel Truitt) The post PHOTOS: Rehoboth Beach Pride Festival appeared first on Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News.
‘Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! My Memoir’By Liza Minnelli, as told to Michael Feinsteinc.2026, Grand Central$36/ 421 pages Twenty feet In front of you, and you can’t see a thing. Even the closest faces are in shadow – lit, but not quite enough for you to see for sure what the people there are think
“One morning, as Gregor Samsa was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in his bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug.” – Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis. On a usual day in Germany in 1940, Jewish people discovered upon waking that they had been changed in the public’s min
The latest Honda Civic hatchback and Subaru Impreza are two of the segment’s stars. Both offer sensible pricing, excellent utility and enough personality to avoid feeling like appliances. The Civic is more polished. The Impreza, more rugged. Luckily, neither is trying to be obnoxiously flashy. HONDA
When looking to buy a home, there are lots of details to consider. Many of my clients would come to me and say, “Joe I want to buy a place, but I haven’t decided which neighborhood to buy in.” And the struggle was real. A few clients had everything decided from the color of the hallway walls to the
The United Kingdom’s Department of Education has published its updated guidance for “Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026” (KCSIE) and it will take effect on September 1. However, the guidance is likely to put trans and gender-non-conforming children at greater risk. “We criticise numerous aspect
Vice President JD Vance joined Bluesky this week and hatefully trolled trans people — he immediately became the most-blocked account on the site. Bluesky has been a refuge for trans and other marginalized groups escaping the right-wing echo chamber X has become since Elon Musk bought the former Twit
Trump administration backs off its attempt to use Medicare & Medicaid funding to force hospitals to stop providing trans care Why they backed off: The administration was trying to create a new rule that would deny Medicare and Medicaid funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to trans
In the late 1980s, two women set about creating a lesbian community in Kansas City, Missouri. The result was Womontown, an urban community of over 70 women that spanned a 12-block radius and contained 28 homes and 14 apartment buildings. “We just started imagining, what if we could just walk hand in
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