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Gay cruise rejected by Turkey also blocked by Egypt

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An LGBTQ+ cruise ship that was barred from docking in Turkey last week has now also been rejected by Egypt, the cruise’s organisers have said. Atlantis Events CEO Rich Campbell revealed that Virgin Voyages’ Scarlet Lady was scheduled to dock in Alexandria on 9 July as an alternative to Turkey but permissions were pulled at the last minute. He told the Washington Post that the situation was “really unheard of” and “strange and sad”. A reason for the change of plan has not yet been shared. Campbell went on to say that Alexandria denied the ship’s arrival on approach and “refused to allow” it into the […]

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Idaho law criminalizes trans people’s bathroom use. Advocates are mapping safe places to pee

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A new Idaho law may outlaw transgender people’s use of public restrooms, but advocates are mapping the private facilities where anyone can pee in peace. Trans Affirm just released an online “Idaho Inclusive Bathroom Map,” which shows both the safe and non-inclusive places where residents can use the restroom facilities aligned with their gender identity. The organization has been building the map in the wake of Idaho Gov. Brad Little signing one of the most sweeping statutes in the country criminalizing restroom use. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a […]

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In a viral post, transgender author alleges anti-LGBTQ+ senator Lindsey Graham hired her for sex work

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After longtime U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham died on Saturday night, reportedly from aortic dissection, the reaction from the LGBTQ+ community was immediate. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The South Carolina Republican had served in the U.S. Senate since 2003, spending his final years as a loyalist to President Donald Trump despite having run against him in the 2016 Republican primary. Throughout his tenure, Graham was a staunch opponent to the advancement of LGBTQ+ civil rights, opposing marriage equality; advocating against the 2011 repeal of “Don’t […]

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Lindsey Graham, Trump ally who opposed LGBTQ+ rights and consistently denied being gay, dies at 71

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As questions swirl around Washington about the health status of Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who has been hospitalized for weeks after emergency responders went to his house for a patient in cardiac arrest, the political world woke up Sunday morning to news of another high-profile lawmaker’s death. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a foreign policy hawk who evolved from one of Donald Trump’s fiercest Republican critics into one of the president’s most dependable congressional allies, died Saturday evening after what his office described as a “brief and sudden illness.” He was 71. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, […]

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Trump judges allow Christians to sue Alaska Airlines for firing them over anti-LGBTQ+ statements

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A U.S. Appeals Court with three Donald Trump appointees decided on Wednesday to overturn a decision by a lower court throwing out a suit by two Alaska Airlines employees who sued the company over charges of religious discrimination, Reuters reports. The plaintiffs claim that they were fired for expressing anti-LGBTQ+ views, which they say was an act of religious discrimination. The women are represented by the right-wing “religious freedom” legal organization First Liberty Institute. “You cannot be fired because ​your employer does not like your religious beliefs,” Stephanie Taub, the group’s senior counsel, said after the reversal. Alaska Airlines claims religious beliefs […]

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Is Steam blocking LGBTQ+ content in China?

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Reports have suggested that Steam’s digital storefront is blocking LGBTQ+ content in accordance with Chinda’s “local laws and regulations.” Given the country’s policies around LGBTQ+ people and content, that might not be surprising, especially as Steam has agreed to censorship before.  But what’s actually happening might be a lesser compromise. The first reports of the issue came from user Neha on Resetera, who posted a screenshot of Steam with an error message in Chinese, which translates to “An error occurred while processing your request: The content on this page has been identified as inappropriate because it violates local laws and regulations, […]

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Is Goose, the Grindr alternative, using fake AI-generated dates to lure gay men?

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Is a new dating app marketed as an alternative to Grindr tricking gay men with fake potential dates? According to Wired, the answer is yes. An investigation by WIRED found that many of the faces used to promote Goose were linked to low-usage accounts with abnormal follower-to-following ratios. Moreover, some appeared to be connected to Instagram accounts likely generated by artificial intelligence. The Advocate’s sibling publication, Out, previously reported that Goose was created by out gay model, actor, and beauty entrepreneur Derek Chadwick and pitched as a social-first, “anti-algorithm” alternative to Grindr, Sniffies, and other hookup-focused apps. Instead of swiping, Goose lets users “wave” at one another; if both people […]

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Daughters of the American Revolution live up to their name by rejecting ban on trans women

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The Daughters of the American Revolution officially rejected a proposed ban on transgender women from joining the organization on June 26. The long-awaited vote came after years of pressure within the DAR — a nonprofit historical preservation and education society created in 1890, composed of women with direct ancestry to soldiers in the American Revolutionary War — to exclude trans women from the organization’s definition of “woman,” which would effectively ban them from its ranks. In 2023, the DAR officially amended their guidelines to include language that protects trans members against discrimination in the application process, per The Washingtonian. “Some have asked if […]

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USPS worker arrested by FBI after alleged mass violence threat at Texas Pride event

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A US Postal Service employee was arrested Sunday (28 June) after allegedly posting threats online targeting a Pride parade in Texas, according to the FBI. Michael Thompson, from Clovis, New Mexico, is accused of threatening a mass shooting at a Lubbock Pride event and was taken into custody after authorities received a tip on Saturday (27 June) about the posts. Investigators alleged in a Monday (29 June) criminal complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of New Mexico that Thompson made and deleted several comments on a Lubbock Avalanche-Journal Facebook post about a Pride event. According to the complaint, […]

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Officials who freaked out over library’s Pride display may have broken the law in quest to remove it

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In the small town of Monroeville, Pennsylvania, a city council member accused staff at the public library of grooming kids with a Pride Month display in the children’s section, which librarians titled “Love is Love.” The councilman may have broken the law in his crusade to have it removed. On June 19, council member Bill Krut reposted a photo from the Monroeville Library’s Facebook page, showing the books on display, including “I Am Perfectly Designed” by Karamo Brown, “The GayBCs” by M.L. Webb, and “Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle” by Nina LeCour. Krut captioned the repost with […]

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