The fallout from Donald Trump’s decision to illegally rename the Kennedy Center to give himself top billing continues to grow, creating an embarrassing situation for the president. As it turns out, artists don’t want their work associated with Trump, despite legal threats from Ric Grenell, the president’s openly gay factotum who heads the center.
On Monday, just days before their scheduled New Year’s Eve concerts, the Cookers, a highly regarded jazz group, announced that they were cancelling their appearance at the Kennedy Center.
“With deep regret, we must share that we are unable to perform as planned on New Year’s Eve,” the group said in a statement, explaining that the decision came together very quickly. “We remain committed to playing music that reaches across divisions rather than deepening them.” The Cookers said that their decision was in line with what jazz is about.
“Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice,” their statement said.
As it turns out, the Cookers are hardly alone in that decision. Last week’s Christmas Eve concert was canceled at the last minute for the same reason. Long-time host Chuck Redd, another giant in the world of jazz, said that Trump renaming the Center was the last straw.
“When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert,” Redd told the Associated Press.
Kristy Lee, a folk singer from Alabama, announced last week that she was cancelling her January concert because of the Center renaming.
“When American history starts getting treated like something you can ban, erase, rename, or rebrand for somebody else’s ego, I can’t stand on that stage and sleep right at night,” she wrote on Instagram. “America didn’t get built by branding. It got built by people showing up and doing the work. And the folks who carry it don’t need their name on it, they just show up. That’s all I’m doing here. I’m showing up.”
Other artists are piling on as well. Doug Varone and Dancers, who were scheduled to appear at the Kennedy Center next April, announced Monday that they were cancelling their appearance as well. “We can no longer permit ourselves nor ask our audiences to step inside this once great institution,” Varone said.
The holiday cancellations in particular hit the Kennedy Center hard, because the season is “highly lucrative.” The bottom line already took a hit when Grenell signed off on a deal to let FIFA, the governing body for international soccer, use the Center free of charge over the holidays for its World Cup planning. That decision led to multiple holiday performances being cancelled or rescheduled.
In response to the cancellation of the Christmas Eve concert, Grenell threatened to sue Redd for $1 million, calling that Redd’s decision “classic intolerance” while lauding “President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure.”
The newest cancellations led Grenell to resort to trashing the artists.
“The artists who are now canceling shows were booked by the previous far left leadership,” Grenell said on X. “Their actions prove that the previous team was more concerned about booking far left political activists rather than artists willing to perform for everyone regardless of their political beliefs.”
When Amaka Agwu’s little brother was three years old, he turned to his darker-skinned father one night and warned that his lighter-skinned grandmother was coming to get him. “That’s what white people do to Black people,” the little boy said.
“It was a very funny thing to hear a three-year-old say,” Agwu reflected, “and very interesting to tell him, ‘That’s not how that works.’”
Agwu, an 18-year-old gay student activist at George Washington University in D.C., laughed at the recollection, but who could blame a young person today for thinking that white people are coming after people of color? Or, perhaps, that the so-called “normal gays” are targeting trans folks? It’s on screens everywhere – from the couches and kitchens where three-year-olds roam, to the college campuses targeted by the likes of Turning Point USA and the young conservatives enchanted by its mission.
Dinner conversations like the one her brother sparked are what spurred Agwu to activism. “My parents were always very cognizant about teaching us about different political systems and inequalities that exist in the United States,” she said.
Nowadays, Agwu feels disappointed that her fellow students aren’t rising to the moment that Donald Trump has forced upon them.
“We just need to do better,” she said.
Since the Civil Rights Movement, young people have been at the vanguard of political protest in the U.S., from North Carolina college students launching nationwide lunch counter sit-ins, to the death of four Kent State undergraduates who were shot by National Guard troops while demonstrating against the Vietnam War, to encampments on college campuses across the country protesting Israel’s invasion of Gaza. In all of these, students came to symbolize not just the causes they were fighting for but a generational struggle for change.
But those and other iconic protest movements, like nuclear disarmament, the invasion of Iraq, apartheid in South Africa, and Occupy Wall Street, involved single issues or ideas to rally around. This time, it’s been harder for students to focus amid Trump’s flood-the-zone strategy.
Add to that attacks on higher education (including student visa restrictions) explicitly designed by Trump advisors like Stephen Miller to undermine a liberal worldview on college campuses, and you have a successful effort to divide and conquer dissent.
Agwu saw the writing on the wall during the Biden administration, with the slew of anti-trans state legislative attacks and the passage of Florida’s notorious Don’t Say Gay law that inspired copycat legislation around the country. “I was seeing all that, and I was like, ‘Wait, there’s now a president in office who actually isn’t going to fight against it, but on all that will actively support those types of things?’”
She describes Trump’s inauguration one year ago as “scary.”
“I just felt like this deep-seated fear entangled with how the country would go.”
“He’s kind of exposing underlying currents of conservatism that have already existed in the United States that just haven’t been fully addressed,” she said. “Now we have a president who’s willing to exploit those to get power.”
“I think he’s just making us fully aware — and the people who weren’t aware of it to begin with — that these deep-seated, hateful notions still exist, and that we just need to do better to fight back against them.”
Agwu is fighting back as the head of logistics for the “startup” activist group Revs Rise Up, a play on the school’s revolutionary school mascot.
“Basically, we’re trying to fight against authoritarianism with the Trump administration,” she said.
Their latest action was a banner signing and letter drop demanding that GW refuse to join Trump’s so-called university “compact” dictating anti-diversity initiatives and assaulting academic freedom.
“No one’s really gone out and rejected it, right? And we’re saying our school should preemptively reject it before you start requiring that all schools start to accept it.”
For Agwu, Trump’s requirement for sex assigned at birth on passports ranked as his most egregious attack on the LGBTQ+ community, a literal manifestation of his effort to erase trans identity from American society.
“In a very legal sense, it delegitimizes someone’s transition journey, and it’s inherently harmful to thousands upon thousands of trans people who have gone through the process of medically and/or legally transitioning,” she said.
It’s one example, Agwu explained, of Trump’s thirst for power.
Asked if change can be effected on screens, Agwu, who’s studying international affairs and English, replied, “Not entirely.”
Social media is “a very easy and very powerful tool to help people learn more about issues,” and to “see themselves as though they’re being involved,” Agwu said.
But she cautioned against “hashtag activism.”
“If people only engage in that, it doesn’t enact effective change,” she said.
“You still need to get people who are going out onto the streets, or who are lobbying to their Congress members and going and saying, ‘We need this to change, because this matters to me, and this is hurting thousands of people.’ So I do think it’s a great tool, but it’s not entirely what will generate change.”
Cailey Chin, a freshman studying economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, says Trump has dominated her history and politics education since elementary school.
“My first memory, I guess, was my library elective, and they made us debate the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump race, and we had a fake election about it, which I think was a little bit too advanced for third graders, but nonetheless, it was still a debated topic within my school.”
Chin’s activism started several years later, in high school, with a failed effort to expand sex education in her Pennsylvania school district. By that time, a previously bipartisan issue had become contentious in her swing state county.
The growing red-blue divide “definitely affected” her efforts, Chin said. “I was pushed back. I was ignored oftentimes.”
At Penn, she works with a group called Our Space, which connects Philadelphia-area high schoolers and her school’s LGBT center through educational sessions focused on comprehensive sex ed, “like healthy boundaries, communication, and things targeted specifically at queer youth.”
That’s a segment of the population under direct attack by the Trump administration and its allies, with executive orders attacking gender beyond the binary, bans on queer content in school libraries, and federal funding slashed for gender-affirming care.
“Just being able to connect and having a safe space to talk about these topics and educate our youth” ensures they’ll be “well-equipped to fight back,” she said.
Chin called Trump’s first year back in office “harrowing” and cited cuts to HIV funding and his failure to acknowledge World AIDS Day as two of his most grievous actions.
“HIV is a very bipartisan issue that obviously does not just affect the LGBTQ community, but disproportionately affects it,” she said. “Cutting these funds only harms the entirety of our nation and really hurts the health of not just queer people, but people in marginalized communities, people of color, people in poor communities.”
Chin said there’s a clear understanding among students at Penn of the harm caused by the Trump administration, but thinks the Ivy League’s competitive culture is holding students (including herself) back from public protest, both IRL and online.
“UPenn’s pre-professional culture, alongside just like fear in general, makes people very quiet in terms of political issues,” she said, “and I can relate to that. Sometimes I’m hesitant to talk about my activism or just do simple things like this interview, because of my digital footprint.”
“If employers see that I’m outspoken and that I’m passionate about the things that I am passionate about, it might lead to me losing a job.”
Ironically, though, Chin has a large online presence focused on another cause that’s been caught in the Trump administration’s crosshairs: equity in education.
She counts over 34,000 followers on Instagram and hundreds of thousands of likes on TikTok for her content advising high schoolers on how to ace college admissions applications.
Chin said her work online is a matter of accessibility.
“Social media, obviously, is accessible to a large amount of people with their phones. Via my content creation, I’m able to provide information at no cost to anybody following me, and those people following me and viewing my content come from a very diverse set of backgrounds. So that really helps in spreading information and getting things out there, whether it be advocacy or not.”
Trans student-activist Amber Va describes Trump’s worst actions as legion, and defined by the tragic flaw in his “Make America Great Again” slogan.
“Truth be told, it was never that great in the first place,” Va said.
“And now you have this great big bill that’s enacted, along with attacks on trans people and the trans community, and the passport recognition, and right now, especially, with the ICE raids — you know, it’s just really insane.”
For Va, a 24-year-old sidelined from school by the pandemic and now a freshman at Valley College in Los Angeles, “The [anti-trans] stigma that’s been going on in the media that we’re forced to believe” is personal. She was already facing it among her Cambodian family.
“It’s all intertwined,” she said. “The intergenerational trauma and now the political climate.”
Her own experience living as a trans woman and queer person of color inspired her advocacy work. She serves on the queer youth advisory committee for the Foundation for California Community Colleges and partners with nonprofit organizations to get resources to young people in her work as a grassroots community activist.
She wants to parlay a communications degree into a queer-focused public relations specialty.
Regarding the attention economy, Va agreed that young adults and teenagers are focused on social media but need to exercise discretion in who they listen to.
“There’s a bunch of social influencers who will do it just for clout, you know, just for attention,” she said of some influencers’ advocacy. “It depends on who you talk to and who’s a credible source.”
But community is where you find it, she said.
“There’s a lot of people throughout the nation who can’t attend protests because of the era we’re in, or where they are. We’ll take as much support as we can for the rallies, the marches, for protests, for sit-ins and all of that, you know? I mean, that’s what I count as community. There’s only so much you can do within your power and for your safety.”
Va likened the choice to resist Trump’s onslaught to Neo’s in The Matrix, before the right-wing manosphere co-opted that movie’s message.
“You have the red pill, or you have the blue pill, take your pick.” Either way, “You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”
Then Va turned to a more definitive movie analogy.
“Like, in Star Wars terms, I’ll join the resistance, right?”
However young people may choose to resist, Va advises them, “Everything takes time.”
“Something I learned from my activism is that patience is a virtue,” she said.
Students may be in some kind of interregnum right now, caught between the rise of the #metoo, Black Lives Matter, and trans rights movements and Trump’s broad assault on everything “woke,” along with the overall radicalization that historically follows similar illiberal backlash.
If young people like Va are looking to movies for their cultural cues, One Battle After Another is another more contemporary example, drawing on militant groups of the 1960s and 70s, like the Black Panthers, the Weather Underground and the Symbionese Liberation Army — all armed in deed or simply rhetoric — to depict a level of resistance equal to the assault they’re confronted with; orthodoxy on both sides of the political spectrum comes in for a critical beating.
The message, like Va’s, is that the struggle is never-ending.
Despite a portion of Agwu’s student body “who seem a bit jaded, like there’s nothing we can do,” she does see fresh evidence of young people stirred to action. An appearance by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on campus in December inspired a “huge protest” against Trump administration policies, even during finals.
“We are the closest school to the White House. I can see it from my dorm,” she said. “Because there’s such a large population of students who came here specifically because they want to study political science or international affairs in the capital of the U.S., it’s a very politically charged environment.”
While “there hasn’t been enough protest and action,” fellow students are “willing to fight for or against whatever they personally believe,” she said. It’s her role as an activist “to empower and inspire other people to enact change and participate in their own way.”
“So many students are very energized to fight back.”
Chin considered whether the Trump era is a “blip” in history or an enduring turn to authoritarianism.
“In the face of resistance, you still have the ability to make change in your local community, in your state, at the national level. It’s not impossible,” she said after cataloguing her own efforts and disappointments. “I think that it’s important to remember that this is just a temporary wave.”
“You might feel discouraged, and you might feel like you’re helpless, but there are still people that want to connect with you. They want to fight back with you, and they want to unite to make change.”
Va reached back to words spoken by Black Panther Party member Assata Shakur from prison in 1973, a call to action for those ready for a reckoning.
“It is our duty to fight for freedom,” Va said, quoting Shakur. “It is our duty to win. We must love and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
In the two days since Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by a federal immigration agent on a Minneapolis street, grief has transformed into national solidarity. A wave of support has now lifted her family with more than $1.5 million in grassroots donations and turned a GoFundMe page into a digital monument to a life cut short.
As of shortly after noon Eastern time Friday, more than 38,400 people had donated $1,503,383 to support Good’s wife and children, 3,001 percent of the campaign’s original $50,000 goal. GoFundMe confirmed to The Advocate that the fundraiser is legitimate.
“We can now confirm this GoFundMe is verified,” Ese Esan, a communications manager for the platform, said in a statement.
The Advocate has contacted the campaign’s organizers for additional comment.
Shortly after the fundraiser crossed the $1.5 million mark, the organizers paused accepting donations.
“Thank you for your generosity. We’ve closed this GoFundMe and will place the funds in a trust for the family,” organizer Mattie Weiss wrote in an update posted Friday afternoon. “If you’re looking to donate, we encourage you to support others in need. We’re truly grateful.”
The campaign was launched by family friends Mattie Weiss and Becka Tilsen to help cover funeral costs and long-term living expenses for the family that Good leaves behind.
“Please support the wife and son of Renee Good as they grapple with the devastating loss of their wife and mother,” the organizers wrote. “Renee was pure sunshine, pure love. She will be desperately missed.”
Good, 37, was killed Wednesday during what federal officials have described as an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis. Video of the shooting raced across social media, igniting protests, urgent calls for federal investigations, and sharp condemnation of the heavy-handed actions of anonymous, masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents under President Donald Trump’s second administration.
Across Minneapolis, thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets, marching through the city in freezing temperatures, blocking intersections near the site of the shooting and chanting “ICE out now” and other calls for justice and accountability. Law enforcement and federal agents clashed with some crowds outside the Whipple Federal Building on Thursday, where protesters said they were demanding an end to ICE operations and accountability for Good’s death; police deployed pepper balls and, according to local reports, tear gas during encounters with demonstrators.
Protests have also erupted in cities far beyond Minnesota. In downtown Miami, demonstrators gathered in solidarity, chanting for accountability and justice for Good, while in San Antonio, Texas, activists held candlelight vigils and called on communities nationwide to “know her name.” In Washington, D.C., protestors shut down the busy 14th and U Street Northwest corridor, and in New York City, people marched with signs criticizing ICE.
The demonstrations have become a broader platform for criticism of ICE’s expanding presence in U.S. cities, drawing comparisons to other moments of community resistance against federal law enforcement. Local leaders, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have harshly challenged the federal narrative of self-defense and called for transparent investigations.
“Renee’s death is not just a headline,” one donor wrote on the fundraising page. “It is a family shattered, a wife without her partner, children without their mother, and a community grieving someone who should still be here.”
Another added, “We all saw ICE murder in broad daylight. Your life had meaning and we will continue to fight for a better America.”
On January 7, 2026, GLAAD announced the nominees for the 37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, and many of this year’s nominees center diverse and compelling stories about transgender and nonbinary people.
As GLAAD stated in our latest Where We Are on TV report, in the current climate, as the media and politicians spread hateful rhetoric about trans people unchecked, exposure to authentic and meaningful trans representation in entertainment is of critical importance. When non-LGBTQ people see the LGBTQ community represented in the media, their familiarity and comfortability with the community grows. These nominees are the type of stories that we need now more than ever.
In the Outstanding Film – Limited Theatrical Release category, is Ponyboi, a film written by and starring River Gallo (pictured below), about a trans and intersex person living on the margins who must run from the mob when a drug deal goes sideways. The film also features Indya Moore as a trans woman and friend of Ponyboi. Gallo received a Rising Stars Grant from GLAAD in 2019 for the Ponyboi short.
River Gallo in “Ponyboi”
In the Outstanding Film – Streaming or TV category, is Queen of Coal, starring Lux Pascal (pictured below) and based on the true story of Carla Antonella “Carlita” Rodriguez, a trans woman who challenges superstition and patriarchy in her Patagonian mining town when she fights to become their first female coal miner.
Lux Pascal in “Queen of Coal”
In the Outstanding Documentary category, Enigma, directed by Zackary Drucker, charts the parallel stories of April Ashley and Amanda Lear as they faced public scrutiny about their gender; the Sam Feder film Heightened Scrutiny, follows ACLU attorney Chase Strangio (pictured below), the first out transgender person to argue at the Supreme Court as he fights against Tennessee’s ban on healthcare for transgender youth; Kimberly Reed’s film I’m Your Venus, follows the brothers of transgender icon Venus Xtravaganza and members of the House of Xtravaganza, as they seek to honor Venus’ legacy and find new details about her life and death; In Transit, a South Asian docuseries directed by Ayesha Sood and produced by Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, about nine transgender and nonbinary people across India as they navigate family, love, and self-acceptance; and Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf, centering British transgender icon and advocate Munroe Bergdorf as she faces her past while writing her memoir.
Chase Strangio in “Heightened Scrutiny”
In the Outstanding New Series category, is Clean Slate, starring and executive produced by Laverne Cox (pictured below), as a transgender woman returning home to Alabama in order to repair her relationship with her estranged father played by comedy icon George Wallace.
Laverne Cox in “Clean Slate”
In the Outstanding Comedy Series category Survival of the Thickest features Peppermint (pictured below) as a trans woman and friend of Michelle Buteau’s Mavis who, this season, marries her fiancé Harrison in a groundbreaking wedding episode.
Peppermint in “Survival of the Thickest”
In the Outstanding Drama Series category, The Sandman continued to feature transgender and nonbinary actor Mason Alexander Park as Desire, a member of the Endless, and also added Indya Moore to the cast as Wanda, a transgender woman who joins Dream and Delirium in their search for their long-lost brother.
In the Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series category, Wayward, created by and starring Mae Martin (pictured below), is about a transgender man who moves to his wife’s bucolic hometown, only to find himself in the middle of a twisted web of conspiracy emanating from the local troubled teen camp.
Mae Martin in “Wayward”
In the Outstanding Reality Program category, Jay & Pamela centers transgender man Jay Manuel Chavez, and his wife, Pamela (pictured together below), as they navigate planning a wedding, finding independence, and living with Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type 3, while challenging misperceptions about queer identity and disability.
Jay Thomas Manuel and Pamela Chavez in “Jay & Pamela”
In the Outstanding Reality Competition category, there are three nominees: season two of I Kissed a Boy included a transgender man in the cast; American Ninja Warrior featured Clayton Reeves and Jenson Little (pictured below), the first two out transgender athletes to ever be featured on the show; and Project Runway, which this year crowned its first ever out transgender winner, Veejay Floresca.
Clayton Reeves and Jenson Little in “American Ninja Warrior”
In the Outstanding Kids & Family category, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur includes Brooklyn, a young trans girl voiced by Indya Moore, and Tai, a nonbinary student voiced by Ian Alexander.
In the Outstanding Comic Book category, Avengers Academy: Marvel’s Voicesfeatured Shela Sexton, aka Escapade, a trans superhero, and Marcus Wetherall, a young trans man who’s a reporter; The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos: Children of the Night includes Jordi Jacinto, a Black trans teen who happens to be a vampire; and Secret Six includes trans superhero Nia Nal, aka Dreamer.
In the Outstanding Graphic Novel/Anthology category, Gayasians includes an Asian American drag queen discovering that she is also a trans woman; Hey, Mary! includes a Latina trans woman who is navigating her own history with Catholicism; Low Orbit includes a nonbinary trans teen who is still exploring their gender identity; and the nonfiction graphic novel Trans History: From Ancient Times to the Present Day is a look back at trans and gender non-conforming people over the past several hundred years. In A Song for You and I, a younger character is exploring their gender and asks people to call them by a new name, and in Spent, there is at least one nonbinary young person.
To read more about the trans and nonbinary nominees in the OutstandingChildren’s and Kids & Family categories, click here.
To read more about the trans and nonbinary nominees in the Outstanding Video Game category, click here.
Many talk show, podcast, and journalism nominees feature trans people and/or highlighted issues affecting the trans community. A full list of those nominees may be found here.
Several of the nominees this year also included nonbinary characters who are not explicitly defined as transgender, adding to the growing conversation about gender diversity. Those nominees include:
In the Outstanding Film – Limited Release category, Sorry, Baby includes E.R. Fightmaster as the nonbinary partner of Naomi Ackie’s Lydie, and Tommy Dorfman’s directorial debut, I Wish You All The Best, stars Corey Fogelmanis as a nonbinary teenager navigating a new school, friendship, and identity.
In the Outstanding Documentary category, Come See Me in the Good Lightfollows poet Andrea Gibson as they navigate the unknown and what it means to make the most of the time one has left after their terminal cancer diagnosis.
In the Outstanding Reality Program category, Selling Sunset features Chrishell Stause and her relationship with her nonbinary partner G Flip, and The Ultimatum: Queer Love, which includes multiple nonbinary cast members.
Projects nominated for the 37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards were published, released, or broadcast between January 1 and December 31, 2025. The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies, which funds GLAAD’s fight for equality and inclusion beyond the red carpet, powers GLAAD research, fuels GLAAD’s news & rapid response efforts, and energizes GLAAD’s global education, training and advocacy programs for marginalized and queer communities worldwide.
A gay Minneapolis pastor says federal immigration agents handcuffed him, pointed a gun at his face, and taunted him while he stood among nonviolent protesters just blocks from where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three who also leaves behind a wife. The encounter has become a visceral symbol of fear, fury, and deepening mistrust between federal authorities and communities already scarred by violence.
The Rev. Kenny Callaghan, a gay senior pastor at All God’s Children Metropolitan Community Church whose congregation sits near Portland Avenue and East 31st Street, told The Advocate in an interview Friday that he went toward a commotion on Wednesday morning after hearing that a group of federal agents was surrounding and threatening what he perceived to be a Hispanic woman, not specifically in response to the earlier shooting.
Callaghan said his initial instinct was pastoral and protective — he was not seeking confrontation but was concerned that agents appeared to be menacing the woman.
A crowd began swelling after learning that ICE had killed Good, a 37-year-old mother, only a few blocks away. He described the street as charged with electricity — chants rolling through the neighborhood, whistles piercing the air, and masked federal agents moving through a sea of Minneapolis residents who were grieving and angry but resolutely nonviolent.
“I saw ICE agents circling a young woman who appeared to be Hispanic,” he said. “I said to this ICE agent, ‘Take me, stop harassing her.’
An agent immediately raised a firearm at his face, Callaghan said, and asked, “Are you afraid now?” He said he replied no, and moments later, he was handcuffed and placed in a black SUV. Inside the vehicle, Callaghan said, the same agent returned repeatedly to ask whether he was “afraid yet.” He remained there for about 30 minutes and was released without being arrested or charged, he said.
Before letting him go, Callaghan said, the agent told him, “You’re white anyway. You wouldn’t be any fun,” a remark he said made plain what he experienced as racial targeting.
“I never, ever saw systemic racism so blatantly in all my life as I heard that day,” Callaghan said. “What I saw was a use of fear and intimidation with people.”
Callaghan was not arrested or charged with a crime.
Callaghan’s account also collides with the Trump administration’s public assertions about what happened on Portland Avenue — claims that have been increasingly challenged by multiple videos circulating online that appear to show a far less clear-cut encounter than federal officials have described. In his interview with The Advocate, Callaghan dismissed the government’s version of events that the ICE agent was acting in self-defense as “lies” and “gaslighting,” saying he has little confidence that federal officials are being truthful about the circumstances surrounding Good’s killing or the treatment of demonstrators that followed. “They just don’t care,” he said, adding that the administration “feels like they have the right to do whatever they damn well please, including murdering people.”’
ICE agents on patrol in Minneapolis.Kenny Callaghan
The confrontation unfolded as word rippled through the crowd that Good had been shot and killed just blocks away. Callaghan said the atmosphere transformed instantly. He said that grief hardened into defiant chants of “We are not afraid.” Masked agents without visible name badges moved through the scene, he said, as demonstrators stood their ground.
Callaghan said learning that Good was queer intensified the sense of personal loss. “Not only is she a neighbor — she is my people, my community,” he said. He accused the Trump administration and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem of misrepresenting what happened that day.
He described what he witnessed as part of a broader pattern of intimidation, with agents pepper-spraying demonstrators, pushing people to the ground, handcuffing bystanders, and placing peaceful protesters in federal vehicles.
Though he said he was not afraid during the confrontation, Callaghan acknowledged that knowing someone was shot and killed only a few blocks away has changed how he thinks about his own safety.
“Now I know that even I could be killed by ICE simply for existing,” he said, but he added that it will not stop his activism.
“It will not stop me from standing up and speaking up for people that are marginalized in any way, especially immigrants,” he said. “America was built on the backs of immigrants. We must stand up and support our immigrant siblings.”
Callaghan rooted his resolve in both faith and history, invoking Jesus as an immigrant child fleeing political violence and describing protest as part of his spiritual DNA — and the DNA of Metropolitan Community Church congregations nationwide.
He said Minneapolis residents have become deeply practiced in nonviolent resistance following the murder of George Floyd, learning how to organize, show up, and demand accountability even in moments of deep grief. The community response to Good’s killing, he said, reflects that legacy — one of collective action, mutual support, and refusal to be silenced.
“ICE can come and do all that they want to do,” Callaghan said, “but they’d better know that they’re going to be confronted with people who are going to stand up and speak up.”
The Advocate contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin for comment on Callaghan’s allegations. When asked about the incident, McLaughlin refused to answer questions about the officers, instead asking, “Do you know why our officers wear masks?”
GLAAD announced this week the nominees for the 37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards honoring the best in LGBTQ-inclusive news and entertainment. This year’s nominees include outstanding series and films for families, check out the list below and add some of these titles to the queue for your next family viewing night!
In 2018, GLAAD made history by co-hosting the first LGBTQ panel at the Kidscreen Summit. That same year, GLAAD introduced the inaugural GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids & Family programming. In the eight years since, that first category expanded to three categories spotlighting inclusive stories for younger audiences and families.
Nominees in the “Outstanding Children’s Programming” category shine a spotlight on both supportive and loving LGBTQ families and celebrating self-acceptance. Queer Eye star Jonathan Van Ness appears in a standout episode of HBO Max’s Sesame Street, “No Wrong Way to Be You,” where they talk about the power they found in their own style and help Niamh as she wonders about switching up her own hair and look. Apple TV’s Be@rbrick follows a group of young musicians who are determined to live their dreams in a world where everyone’s role is chosen for them, including Nick Hazard who is worried he’ll be assigned an office job like his two moms.
Disney Jr.’s Firebuds had further appearances by Violet’s moms, Val and Viv, including an episode in which Violet tries to plan the perfect Mother’s Day party for them. The new HBO Max series Mermicorno: Starfall follows a group of mermaid-unicorns on a quest to save the ocean from an evil villain. On their adventure, the mermicornos find a young lost fish who they help reunite with his moms that had been searching the sea for him. The final episodes of Disney’s Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures includes appearances by Nash’s moms, Ceeli and Kryys, including an episode where Nash goes on a hunt for the perfect birthday gift for her mom and loops in all her friends to help.
The nominees in “Outstanding Kids & Family Programming – Live Action” showcased nuanced depictions of LGBTQ young people and parents across a variety of genres and identities. Season two of the Paramount+ hit School Spiritssaw a touching relationship develop between ghosts Charley and Yuri, as well as featuring an episode that explores and deepens Charley’s friendship with Wally after his past as a bully was called out. Fans can look forward to an all new season coming later this month, premiering on January 28. Netflix’s XO, Kittycontinues to be one of few series for younger audiences that features a lead queer character. In the series second season, Kitty returns to school and her friends at the Korean Independent School of Seoul where she has to balance classes with a love triangle between herself and her roommates Yuri and Juliana, and exposing a saboteur who is out to ruin the school talent show and Kitty’s reputation. Season three is expected to premiere on Netflix later this year. Disney+’s Goosebumps: The Vanishing follows twin siblings Cece and Devin who set off a chain of mysterious events after entering a haunted fort with their friends. Over the course of the season, Cece and Alex, the town’s rebellious “bad girl,” become friends and then fall for each other.
The final season of Apple TV’s Jane included appearances by Kevin and Lucas, the dads of Jane’s best friend David. Hulu’s historical adventure series Washington Black follows the life of George Washington Black who travels the globe on a flying machine with Christopher Wilde, an eccentric inventor. Wash and Wilde travel to the Arctic in search of Wilde’s presumed-dead father James and are surprised to find him alive and living with his deaf partner, Peter.
The nominees in “Outstanding Kids & Family Programming – Animated” prove that animation is a powerful format to tell a wide variety of stories across genres. Hulu’s story book adaptation The Bravest Knight tells the tale of Sir Cedric, his husband Prince Andrew, and their daughter Nia as she trains to become a brave knight herself. The final season of the action-packed Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (Netflix) dove deeper into the relationship between fan favorites, Yaz and Sammy.
HBO Max’s Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake centered queer couple Gary and Marshall with much of the season revolving around the fight to bring Gary’s dream to life: opening a community space and bakery, The Sweet Spot. The season also continued to feature fan favorite couple Bubblegum and Marcelline, and introduced a nonbinary character, Hunter. Disney+’s The Proud Family: Louder & Prouder included a touching episode with KG and Maya’s dads talking to the kids about their family when KG asks about his adoption, and Disney Channel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur continued to feature trans girl Brooklyn and nonbinary student Tai.
The 37th Annual GLAAD Media Awards nominees were published, released, or broadcast between January 1 and December 31, 2025. TheGLAAD Media Awards ceremony, which funds GLAAD’s work to accelerate LGBTQ acceptance, will take place in Los Angeles on March 5, 2026. You can keep up with the latest developments by following GLAAD on BlueSky, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
The Trevor Project, known for its hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, received $45 million from billionaire and author MacKenzie Scott at the end of 2025, the organization said Monday.
The gift is the largest in the organization’s history but also a major boon following years of management turmoil, layoffs and the loss of significant federal fundingover the summer.
“I literally could not believe it and it took some time. I actually gasped,” said Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, when they were notified of Scott’s gift.
Scott, whose fortune largely comes from her ex-husband Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, gave more than $7 billion to nonprofits in 2025, but this gift to The Trevor Project was not included among the donations she disclosed on her website in December. Scott previously gave The Trevor Project $6 million in 2020.
In July, the Trump administration stopped providing specific support for gay, trans and gender nonconforming young people who called the 988 National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. The Trevor Project was one of the organizations staffing that option and lost $25 million in funding, the nonprofit said.
The Trevor Project continues to run an independent hotline for LGBTQ+ young people that Black said reaches about 250,000 young people annually, but they served another 250,000 callers through the 988 Press 3 option, which was tailored for LGBTQ+ young people.
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported more than 1.5 million contacts were routed through the 988 service between Sept. 2022 and July 2025.
Since the program’s end, The Trevor Project’s hotline has become even more central to mental health support for queer young people, said Scott Bertani, director of advocacy at the National Coalition for LGBTQ Health.
“Their services fill a gap that generic crisis lines simply aren’t designed to meet, particularly for young people facing identity-based stress, isolation or rejection,” Bertani said in a statement.
The Trevor Project has faced internal turmoil after its budget grew from around $4 million in 2016 to over $83 million in 2023, according to its public tax returns. The nonprofit’s board removed its CEO in 2022 and has gone through a series of layoffs, including in July. Black said the project’s 2026 budget was $47 million.
“We are a smaller organization than we were before,” Black said. “And we will continue to be really intentional and really mindful around growth and what growth really means for the organization.”
After it lost the 988 funding, The Trevor Project launched an emergency fundraiser that brought in $20 million to date, Black said, which they also hope Scott saw as proof they would make it through this period.
“MacKenzie Scott’s folks were clear, like this gift was made for long-term impact,” Black said, adding that they would take their time deciding how to use the funds.
Thad Calabrese, a professor at New York University who researches nonprofit financial management, said it’s not uncommon for nonprofits that grow very quickly to run into financial problems. But he also said the cuts and general instability in especially federal funding for nonprofits has upended many organizations’ business models.
“Academic research has often viewed public funding as very stable, as a signal to donors that you’ve arrived as an organization, but the reality is you are now also open to changing political fortunes,” he said.
He said research is also unclear whether diversifying an organization’s revenue streams is always a better financial strategy.
“You’re less dependent upon a few funders, but on the other hand, if you have a lot of different revenue streams, do you have the management capacity for that?” Calabrese asked, speaking generally and not commenting specifically on The Trevor Project.
Scott has distinguished herself among the biggest individual donors by giving large, unrestricted gifts to nonprofits, often with a focus on equity or social justice. With the exception of an open call in 2023, she does not ask for project proposals nor accept applications.
Despite the size of her gifts, which now often exceed the recipient organization’s annual budget, research from the Center for Effective Philanthropy has found that concerns about nonprofits misusing Scott’s funds or growing unsustainably have largely not been born out.
Elisha Smith Arrillaga, vice president of research at the Center for Effective Philanthropy, said that’s likely because of the vigorous vetting that Scott’s team, the members of which are largely unknown, does before making gifts.
She also said just like an investor might double down on a for-profit startup that’s struggling, some funders may still believe in an organization’s potential despite setbacks.
“People make all different kinds of investments because they really believe in the outcomes that organization can make and what their gifts can do to help accelerate that,” Smith Arrillaga said.
In an essay announcing her 2025 gifts, Scott said, “The potential of peaceful, non-transactional contribution has long been underestimated, often on the basis that it is not financially self-sustaining, or that some of its benefits are hard to track. But what if these imagined liabilities are actually assets? … What if the fact that some of our organizations are vulnerable can itself be a powerful engine for our generosity?”
Black called Scott’s second gift “a powerful validation,” of The Trevor Project’s mission and impact, saying, “We’re calling this our turnaround story.”
Good was married to a woman and had a 6-year-old son from a previous union.
Minnesota U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, whose district is near Minneapolis, posted on X that she and her colleagues have often “warned of the dangers of the Trump Administration’s chaotic, reckless, and unnecessary ICE operations in our cities.”
“Today, our worst fears became reality when an ICE agent shot and killed a woman in South Minneapolis,” she continued. “This is beyond unacceptable. It’s unconscionable and sickening.”
To Donald Trump and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, she directed this statement: “ICE must leave Minnesota — NOW.”
The administration has claimed that Good, who was in an SUV, somehow posed a threat to the ICE agents. DHS said a person “weaponized” a vehicle, prompting an agent to fire what the agency described as “defensive shots.” But video shows a dark SUV attempting to drive away from the scene when three shots ring out.
“No matter how the Trump Administration spins this, we all saw it,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey posted on X. “Renee Good was a mother and an American citizen. My heart breaks for her family. ICE’s dangerous, aggressive tactics don’t make us safer. Just the opposite. This has to stop.”
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis published this statement on his website: “What took place in a Minneapolis neighborhood is deeply disturbing, and the loss of Renee Good is tragic. My thoughts are with Renee’s family, especially her young child, friends, and loved ones including those in Colorado. There must be a full investigation into this incident, and accountability. The American people deserve answers about what happened today.” It’s been reported that Good was from the Colorado Springs area and had family in Colorado, he said.
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont referred to the “horrific videos” of Good being gunned down. “I will do everything in my power as a member of Congress and as a member of the Judiciary Committee and as an American who has a conscience to make sure that the people responsible will be brought to justice,” she said in an X video. She added that “ICE needs to get out of our cities” and is “causing more harm than good.”
“ICE just killed someone in Minneapolis,” U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, posted on the platform. “This Administration’s violence against communities across our country is horrific and dangerous. Oversight Democrats are demanding answers on what happened today. We need an investigation immediately.”
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen of Illinois, who is also on the Oversight Committee, posted a video on X saying he had spoken with Garcia and agreed that an investigation must take place. When watching the video, Sorensen said, it appeared to him that Good posed no threat.
California State Sen. Scott Wiener, who is running for a U.S. House seat, also weighed in on X. “The President and Department of Homeland Security are working overtime to try and justify killing an innocent civilian,” he wrote. “We can’t let them get away with this.”
“Donald Trump’s ICE just murdered a woman in cold blood,” U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin posted on TikTok. “The mayor of Minneapolis is right: get the f*ck out.”
641 likes, 159 comments. Check out Congressman Pocan (WI-02)’s post.
Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, wrote on Facebook, “This is a tragedy, and I’m thinking of our neighbors to the West. We need an investigation into this incident and accountability. But this we do know: Trump is sending in masked agents into our neighborhoods, is causing chaos, and is not making our communities any safer.”
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York posted on X, “A fatal ICE operation in Minneapolis is the latest proof of an agency out of control under Trump’s watch. Lethal force demands immediate accountability and transparency. We need an independent investigation now. This is unacceptable.” He included a post from Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Homeland Security, giving the administration’s version of events, but he made clear he wasn’t buying it.
U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware wrote on X, “I am appalled that a woman was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Minneapolis today. I’m holding the victim and all of Minnesota in my thoughts as they shoulder this tragic loss. While we’re still gaining more information, today makes one thing clear: public safety has never been this administration’s priority when they send ICE into communities to break up families — and its unchecked actions and insufficiently trained new officers are putting lives in jeopardy.”
U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson of Texas published a statement on her House websiteaddressing both the Minneapolis shooting and the situation in her home state. “I have repeatedly demanded that Secretary Noem and the Department of Homeland Security rein in ICE agents — and they have refused,” Johnson said. “ICE has unlawfully detained U.S. citizens, undermined the rule of law, and now, with zero accountability, has killed an American citizen. This is unacceptable. Law enforcement is meant to protect and serve. Instead, ICE has sown fear in our communities. Agents are abusing their power, and by refusing to identify themselves to local law enforcement, they continue to erode trust in our police and put Texans at risk. With a rise in ICE impersonations and attacks on officers, particularly at the Dallas ICE field office, transparency is critical. At a minimum, ICE must identify themselves to the Dallas Police Department to protect public safety.” Johnson has written a letter to Noem demanding that ICE agents identify themselves to local police.
Not one but two letters were sent from the Pentagon to a Toronto-based sex toy store, found inside the boxes of returned adult items that had somehow made their way to a U.S naval base in Bahrain. The letters were received over the span of about a month over the summer, Bonjibon co-founder Grace Bennett recalled, amusedly.
“We didn’t even know it (the product) was going to Bahrain until it came back to us months later, and it just kind of unraveled this whole … hilarious moment,” the 34-year-old said in an interview with CTV News Toronto. The letter was sent by the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command fleet logistics centre in Bahrain, an island neighbouring Qatar and Saudi Arabia on the Persian Gulf.
“Please notify the sender that pornographic materials or devices are not allowed into the Kingdom of Bahrain.” Bennett did not say what items were sent to the military members but noted how the letters were likely intended to be sent to them, as the U.S. department asked the buyer to inform Bonjibon to, in effect, “stop sending butt plugs to Bahrain.”
A town in Indiana is being sued once again for blocking an LGBTQ+ Pride celebration by imposing strict regulations on public events — and ignoring organizers even after they met the requirements.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana has filed both a lawsuit and a motion for contempt against the town of Loogootee over a “new” ordinance that bans special events from taking place within 240 feet of the town fountain, where the annual PrideFest is held. The town passed the resolution in December despite a near-identical policy being blocked by a court in August.
“The City of Loogootee has passed a series of ordinances in an apparent attempt to prevent Patoka Valley AIDS Community Action Group from conducting its annual Pride Festival in the Public Square area of Loogootee’s downtown,” the complaint reads. “These efforts have been unsuccessful and have instead resulted in this Court declaring two ordinances unconstitutional as violating the First Amendment, and issuing a permanent injunction against the most recent ordinance. Undaunted, Loogootee has passed a new ordinance.”
After a successful first Loogootee PrideFest in 2023 with over 200 people attending, organizers asked the town for permission to host the celebration again in 2024. The town initially approved the request, only to then rescind permission when passing an ordinance that regulated special events, requiring organizers to request a permit 45 days in advance and pay additional fees.
Despite complying with the new regulations, the town ignored Patoka Valley AIDS Community Action Group’s updated application to host 2024 Pridefest. The group then filed a lawsuit against the town, which relented and allowed the event.
After the 2024 festival took place without incident, the group immediately applied to host its 2025 event. The town again ignored them, passing an updated ordinance in January last year that further shortened the deadline to obtain a permit. The group took the town back to court, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern Division of Indiana issued an injunction in August blocking the ordinance.
With the ordinance permanently struck down, the town decided to pass a “new” policy in December, leading to the most recent lawsuit. Ken Falk, legal director at the ACLU of Indiana, said in a statement that not only is the town in contempt, but its repeated targeting of LGBTQ+ events is a violation of the community’s First Amendment rights.
“Court orders must be complied with, and Loogootee, by enacting an ordinance that contains provisions enjoined by the Court, is in contempt of its lawful orders,” Falk said. “Moreover, the ordinance it has adopted continues Loogootee’s pattern of attempting to unconstitutionally restrict this celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. We will continue to vigorously defend our client’s right to hold the event at their desired location in the heart of Loogootee.”
