Top Stories
Equalpride board member steps down following report of MAGA support
Jay Katari has resigned from the board of equalpride, which owns The Advocate, Out, and Them. The news comes one day after queer and transgender editors and other editorial staff at the country’s leading LGBTQ+ newsroom demanded answers about Katari’s expanded role in the company and his reported expressions of support for President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. Independent journalist Kevin Ortega-Rojas first reported on Katari’s social media history, including an image of him wearing a red MAGA hat. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. Equalpride CEO Mark Berryhill announced the departure […]
Texas Pride Event Postponed After City Denies Permit
The Fort Worth Report reports: Pride Kel-So is being rescheduled to April after Southlake City Council unanimously denied the LGBTQ+ festival’s permit last Tuesday. The festival’s original Oct. 3 date will now pivot into a block party at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church capped at 999 attendees as that will not require a city permit. Food trucks, vendors and local LGBTQ+ organizations will be on-site to fundraise for next year’s festival. Southlake Mayor Shawn McCaskill (photo) and council members Randy Robbins, Austin Reynolds, Gary Fawks, Frances Scharli, Chuck Taggart and Eric Wang did not respond to requests for comment. The city’s planning and […]
Federal court rules Oregon can place trans women in men’s prisons
A federal appellate court ruled Thursday that Oregon can house transgenderfemale inmates in men’s prisons. A panel of federal judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals tossed a lower court ruling that ordered Oregon prison officials to place transgender women prisoners in institutions based on gender identity, counter to a February directivefrom the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. All three appellate judges who overturned U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke’s decision were appointed by President Donald Trump, and trans inmates in the appellate court ruling consistently referred […]
Local News
Tickets Now Available for Positive Images Big Fundraiser Queer Magic GAYLA 2026
You are invited to Positive Images’ 2026 QUEER MAGIC GAYla: Meet Me at the Disco! Join us for a night full of dancing, laughs, celebration, and unforgettable memories to support Sonoma County’s LGBTQIA2S+ Community Center. We’ll be joined by PRXZM for a live performance, a silent auction, and so much more! This is the dance party of the year you will not want to miss! Event Details Saturday, November 14, 2026 5:00-9:00 PM Sally Tomatoes (1100 Valley House Dr, Rohnert Park) Please note, this event is 21 and over. ID’s will be checked at the door. Tickets are now on […]
Free Online LGBTQI+ History Class Will Focus on Local Queer Counter Culture of the 1960s
LGBTQI History: A Sonoma County Timeline 1947-2000. Mondays 6-7:30pm. Online via Zoom. Join us on Monday, 9/21 for a segment on the 1960s Counterculture and early LGBT back to the land communities. Contact me to enroll and receive a Zoom link: cdungan@santarosa.edu
Arts & Entertainment
“Slave Play” Opens September 25 at The Left Edge Theatre
What happens when the past refuses to stay in the past?At the MacGregor Plantation, the old South lives on, in the cotton fields, in the master’s house, and in the complicated relationship between fear, desire, race, gender, and power. In SLAVE PLAY, acclaimed playwright Jeremy O. Harris rips open the history we think we know and brings it into conversation with 21st-century America. Provocative, explosive, and unflinching, this daring play challenges audiences to confront the ways race, gender, sexuality, and power continue to shape our lives. SLAVE PLAY has been recognized with the Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, Lotos […]
Friday, September 25 @7 pm/Sunday Sept. 27 @ 3 pm : Acorn MusEcology Project: ‘The Earth Says’ at Occidental Center for the Arts
Friday, September 25 @7 pm/Sunday Sept. 27 @ 3 pm : Acorn MusEcology Project: ‘The Earth Says’ at Occidental Center for the Arts. Directed by Sarah Dupre, Acorn MusEcology Project is proud to present the Northern California premiere of Alex Berko’s Sacred Place, an immersive exploration of ecological spirituality set to the words of Wendell Berry, John Muir, William Stafford, and Rabindranath Tagore. Acorn’s 27-voice ensemble will be joined by violin, cello, and piano to offer up this song cycle of reverential texts within a richly-layered soundscape. Additional original music by co-directors Sarah Dupre and Robin Eschner includes a new setting of poetry by […]
State News
Teachers stage walk out in response to anti-trans activist outburst at chaotic school board meeting
A Davis, California school board meeting descended into chaos on Thursday night when teachers staged a walkout as Beth Bourne, a local Moms for Liberty chapter president and school board candidate, began speaking during public comment. Video of the meeting is available via the district’s school board meeting video portal. As Bourne approached the lectern, many district-area teachers stood up and left the room. Bourne shouted at the meeting chair: “Ask those teachers to stop interrupting my comment!” She then demanded: “I want my time back! I want my time back!” During the disruption, one attendee shouted “B*******!” at Bourne. Bourne […]
Newsom Signs New Restrictions On Social Media
The New York Times reports: California’s governor on Thursday signed into law restrictions on addictive social media technology and interactions with harmful artificial intelligence chatbots, ushering in some of the strongest online protections for young users in the United States. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed a bill that prohibits social media platforms from providing addictive features to users under the age of 16, the first law of its kind in the nation. He also signed a new law mandating that A.I. companies disclose to young users whenever they engage with a chatbot, not a human, and restrict dangerous content on topics […]
