Brooke Sopelsa

From an-depth look at transgender men’s experiences in prison to Olympic diver Tom Daley’s viral knitting, here are 21 of our most clicked on LGBTQ news stories of the year.

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Meet the queer teacher behind Bernie Sanders’ viral mittens

Vermont educator Jen Ellis uses her mittens to raise money for LGBTQ youth and show people the power of generosity. (Jan. 30)

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Former WWE star Gabbi Tuft comes out as transgender 

Tuft said she wants to “create empathy” by talking openly about her transition on social media and in a new podcast. (Feb. 5)

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Americans identifying as LGBTQ more than ever, poll finds 

Nearly 16 percent of Generation Z, those 18 to 23 in 2020, consider themselves something other than heterosexual, according to a Gallup poll. (Feb. 24)

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Bisexual women with straight male partners least likely to be out

Bisexual women’s health and well-being may be affected by the gender and sexual orientation of their partner, according to a study published in the Journal of Bisexuality. (March 6)

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America’s remaining lesbian bars are barely hanging on 

“They provide a safe space, a place for camaraderie, a place for community and, of course, a place to get laid,” actor Lea DeLaria said of queer women’s bars. (April 4)

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Parents of trans kids plan to flee their states as GOP bills loom

Texas mom Amber Briggle said moving would be hard for her family, but “my son always comes first.” (April 19)

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Cherry Grove: How a beach town became a gay ‘safe haven’

An exhibit at the New-York Historical Society features rarely seen photos of the LGBTQ community enjoying the freedom offered by Fire Island’s Cherry Grove, one of America’s first gay beach towns. (May 14)

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Nevada pageant winner becomes 1st transMiss USA contestant 

“My win is our win. We just made history. Happy Pride,” Miss Nevada USA Kataluna Enriquez said. (June 19)

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The heartbreaking true story behind ‘Joe Bell’ 

The movie, starring Mark Wahlberg, tells the complicated story of a father who wanted to memorialize his gay son while also spreading a message of acceptance. (July 22)

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Canada’s Quinn is first transgender Olympic medalist 

Following Canada’s upset win over the U.S. women’s soccer team, the nonbinary sports star paved a path to Olympic history. (Aug. 2)

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Tom Daley’s dive won gold. His knitting won the internet. 

British diver Tom Daley has fueled a huge resurgence in knitting, with his latest creations going to a good cause. (Aug. 5)

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Pete and Chasten Buttigieg welcome two children into their family 

“We are delighted to welcome Penelope Rose and Joseph August Buttigieg to our family,” the Transportation Secretary announced on Twitter. (Sept. 4)

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Remembering the ‘Saint of 9/11’ and the ‘Hero of Flight 93’

Mark Bingham, a rugby player, reportedly confronted hijackers on United Flight 93, and the Rev. Mychal Judge died tending to victims at the World Trade Center. (Sept. 11)

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Police departments across U.S. are mandating LGBTQ training 

Some departments are doing so voluntarily, while others are being required to do so following lawsuits. (Sept. 25) 

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James Bond walks into a gay bar. But should he? 

Actor Daniel Craig, best known for playing James Bond, says he used to frequent gay bars. Reactions in the LGBTQ community were mixed. (Oct. 15)

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13 LGBTQ royals you didn’t learn about in history class 

From the Emperor Ai of China’s Han Dynasty to Sweden’s Queen Christina, here are notable leaders who crossed sexual and gender boundaries. (Oct. 18)

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Dr. Rachel Levine becomes nation’s first trans four-star officer 

Levine was appointed to lead the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, making her the nation’s first openly transgender four-star officer. (Oct. 19)

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‘Worst List’ names 180 ‘unsafe’ colleges for LGBTQ students 

The founder of the LGBTQ nonprofit Campus Pride said the list is the longest it’s ever been. (Oct. 25)

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Missouri high school crowns its first male homecoming queen 

High school senior and TikTok sensation Zachary Willmore said being crowned homecoming queen showed people “really do care” about him. (Nov. 13)

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Strip searches, trauma, isolation: Trans men on life behind bars 

Transgender men say they are often harassed, denied medically necessary care and “forced to be someone” they’re not while incarcerated. (Dec. 3)

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Kavanaugh cites landmark gay rights cases in abortion argument 

Lawyers who argued for LGBTQ rights in those landmark cases — Obergefell v. Hodges and Lawrence v. Texas — were conflicted on the validity of Justice Kavanaugh’s argument about abortion restrictions. (Dec. 3)

A number of organizations, schools and businesses with either a history of anti-LGBTQ advocacy or policies that explicitly discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer individuals have received millions in pandemic relief funding, according to an NBC News analysis of data released last week by the Small Business Administration.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) — which was intended to help small businesses amid the Covid-19 crisis — gave nearly $5.3 billion in the potentially forgivable loans to 5,160,000 recipients, with the average loan being $101,409.

Seven of the organizations that received funding — the American College of Pediatricians, American Family Association, Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam), Church Militant/St. Michael’s Media, Liberty Counsel, Pacific Justice Institute and Ruth Institute — have been designated as “anti-LGBTQ hate groups” by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) due to their alleged vilification of queer people. These seven groups received nearly $2.5 million combined.

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These 14 organizations are considered hate groups. How did they receive $4.3M in PPP aid?

The lion’s share of that money went to the American Family Association, which received nearly $1.4 million in Paycheck Protection Program funds. The Mississippi-based organization uses its resources, in part, to combat what it calls the “homosexual agenda.” Through its One Million Moms initiative, the organization rallies its supporters to boycott brands and media outlets that promote “homosexuality and transgenderism.”

Liberty Counsel, which received $428,000 in pandemic relief funds, is a conservative legal organization that, according to the SPLC, advocates for “anti-LGBT discrimination under the guise of religious liberty.” The organization made national news last year after trying to get gays removed from protection in a federal anti-lynching bill.

Cassie Miller, a senior research analyst at the SPLC, criticized the Trump administration for “letting millions of Americans and small businesses suffer” while providing “financial support to groups that tear at the fabric of our democracy.”

“Extremist movements thrive in climates of political uncertainty,” she said. “Now, the government is doing even more to help hate groups by handing them millions of dollars in forgivable loans.”

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The American Family Association, Ruth Institute and Pacific Justice Institute did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment on the SPLC’s “hate group” designation and how they used their Paycheck Protection Program funds. The other four groups all disputed being labeled a “hate group,” and two of them shed light on how they used their relief loans.

The American College of Pediatricians said it used the loan to “fund the covered payroll period as designated.” It called the SPLC’s hate group designation a “mischaracterization” of its organization and pointed to its detailed response to the criticism. Liberty Counsel, which said it used its funds to avoid laying off any of its 35 employees, accused the SPLC of wanting to “destroy those with whom they disagree.”

At least four other organizations that received Paycheck Protection Program funding — Concerned Women for America, Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, Family Leader and First Liberty Institute — have a demonstrated track record of anti-LGBTQ advocacy or espousing an anti-LGBTQ ideology, though they have not been designated “hate groups” by the SPLC. These organizations received nearly $2 million in pandemic relief money combined.

The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, which received $663,700, is dedicated to combating what it calls the “radical homosexual agenda.” The Colorado-based organization has described LGBTQ-inclusive sex education at a public school district as “vile” and “indoctrination of the most horrible variety.” The group’s founder, James Dobson, has also warned of the “dangerous transgender movement targeting our youth.”

The Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, Concerned Women for America and Family Leader did not respond to NBC News’ requests for comment on how they used the aid and their response to assertions that their organizations have a track record of anti-LGBTQ advocacy. First Liberty Institute’s general counsel, Mike Berry, sent a brief response saying his organization “advocates for the religious liberty of people of all faiths” and said “First Liberty repaid, with interest, all PPP funds by June 30.”

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Two private schools that made national news over the past two years due to their anti-LGBTQ policies — and their high-profile conservative backers — were also on the Paycheck Protection Program recipient list.

Immanuel Christian School, a private K-10 in northern Virginia where Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen Pence, teaches, received $724,900 in aid funding. As NBC News reported last year, the school explicitly bars its employees from engaging in or condoning “homosexual or lesbian sexual activity” and “transgender identity.” And in its parent agreement, the school states that it may “refuse admission” or “discontinue enrollment” of a student whose household condones “sexual immorality,” such as “homosexual activity or bi-sexual activity.”

Trinity Schools, a group of private Christian schools where newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was once a trustee, received over $1 million. As The Associated Press reported in October, the schools effectively bar admission to children of gay parents and make it clear that openly LGBTQ teachers are not welcome in the classrooms.

Immanuel Christian School did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment. Trinity Schools President Jon Balsbaugh sent an email saying his institution used the funds to “ensure that economic disruption of our employees and staff due to the pandemic would be lessened” and said Trinity Schools does not “unlawfully discriminate with respect to race, color, gender, national origin, age, disability, or other legally protected classifications under applicable law.”

Several companies and organizations that have been at the center of high-profile lawsuits regarding their policies of excluding LGBTQ people have also received Paycheck Protection Program funding.

Catholic Social Services, which received over $2 million, is at the center of a case currently before the Supreme Court. Fulton v. City of Philadelphia stems from the faith-based child welfare agency’s policy of not considering same-sex couples as potential parents for foster children.

R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes, which received more than $150,000, was part of a landmark Supreme Court case that resulted in the justices ruling that workplace discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity violates federal civil rights law. The Michigan funeral home’s involvement in the case stemmed from its termination of an employee after she came out as transgender. In November, the business agreed to pay $250,000 to the estate of the terminated employee, who died earlier this year, to settle the lawsuit.

Roncalli High School, which received nearly $1.8 million, was sued by two lesbian guidance counselors last year who said they were terminated when the school discovered they were married to women. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Indiana, which oversees the school and was also named in the women’s suits, received over $2.4 in pandemic relief funds. In response to the lawsuits, which are still active, the Indiana archdiocese told NBC News last year that it has “a constitutional right to hire leaders who support the school’s religious mission.”

Arlene’s Flowers, which received nearly 34,000, was found to have violated a state anti-discrimination law by the Washington Supreme Court last year after refusing to sell flowers to a gay couple for their wedding ceremony. The flower shop appealed to the Supreme Court for the second time last year, and its petition is still pending.

Catholic Social Services, R.G. & G.R Harris Funeral Homes, Roncalli High School and Arlene’s Flowers did not respond to requests for comment.

‘Warped priorities’

Kyle Herrig, president of government watchdog Accountable.US, said it’s “shameful” that the Trump administration provided pandemic relief funds to “organizations promoting bigotry, intolerance, and hate” with “so many small businesses forced to shutter since the start of the pandemic.”

“It is hard to find a clearer example of the Trump administration’s warped priorities than allowing countless mom-and-pop shops to go under without proper relief while bailing out wealthy and well-connected anti-LGBTQ enterprises on Americans’ dime,” he said in an email.

Justin Nelson, co-founder and president of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, shared a similar view.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” he said, “that the Small Business Administration led by the Trump administration would put the needs of avowed anti-LGBT organizations before hardworking small-business owners.”

Nelson said he’s seen first hand how LGBTQ-owned small businesses have struggled during the pandemic and how many have been unable to receive government relief.

“These folks are worried about keeping the lights on,” he said. “We had a number of businesses that applied, and only a small number that received funding.”

Nelson, whose organization works with thousands of LGBTQ-owned businesses around the country, said it’s frustrating to see large, well-funded organizations with anti-LGBTQ track records collect large sums of relief funding while thousands of small businesses have had to close their doors permanently. He noted that his chamber did not apply for a Paycheck Protection Program loan so as not to take away resources from the businesses most in need.

The Small Business Administration said in a statement that it does not comment on individual borrowers or loans. An agency spokesperson said the agency designed a “robust loan review process to ensure that only eligible borrowers received loans that fully complied with the program requirements” but added that just because a loan was issued, doesn’t mean the recipient was eligible or that the loan will ultimately be forgiven.

The first round of Covid-19 relief funding ended in August, and, as NBC News reported Thursday, new coronavirus relief negotiations are hitting an impasse.

As the hearse carrying John Lewis’ body drove through Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhood on Wednesday, it made a lengthy and symbolic stop at a rainbow crosswalk as dozens of people gathered on the sidewalk to watch the procession pass.

“It feels very appropriate that that stop was prolonged for John Lewis’ legacy,” Victoria Kirby York of the National LGBTQ Task Forcetold NBC News. “I believe his vocal leadership and support in championing LGBTQ equality — even prior to it becoming a cool thing for people to hop on the bandwagon for — was critical in being able to shift public opinion across the country.”

York added: “He was about civil rights, equality and liberation for everybody. Period. Full stop.”

The stop by Lewis’ motorcade — lasting nearly a minute — was an acknowledgement of his vocal advocacy over the years for the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans.

An early advocate

Lewis, who represented Georgia’s 5th Congressional District from 1987 until his death on July 17, did not wait until it was politically safe to stand up for LGBTQ rights.

In 1996, when 65 percent of Americans opposed same-sex marriage, Lewis delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor decrying the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA — federal legislation that sought to define marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman — as a “mean” and “cruel” bill.

“This bill is a slap in the face of the Declaration of Independence. It denies gay men and women the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Marriage is a basic human right,” he said. “You cannot tell people they cannot fall in love. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used to say when people talked about interracial marriage and I quote: ‘Races do not fall in love and get married. Individuals fall in love and get married.’”

DOMA, considered a political compromise at the time, easily passed both the House and Senate and was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton in September 1996. It was the law of the land until 2013, when United States v. Windsor chipped away at the heart of the legislation. Same-sex marriage would not be legal across the U.S. until 2015, when the Supreme Court handed down its Obergefell v. Hodges decision.

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York said Lewis’ early support for LGBTQ rights was unsurprising, given his activism in the preceding decades.

“When you’ve stared death in the face solely because of the color of your skin, it gives you a different view of justice,” York said, referring to Lewis’ multiple near-death experiences fighting for civil rights, including during the infamous “Bloody Sunday” protest on Alabama’s Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965. “He put his body on the line to create the world that we all thought was impossible.”

“John Lewis’ moral compass overruled whatever the stigma of the day was,” she added. “Equality for black people means equality for Black LGBTQ people, and equality for Black LGBTQ people means equality for all LGBTQ people, and I think that was a clear through-line for him.”

A decades-long ally

Lewis would continue to be on the forefront of nearly every major congressional proposal to advance LGBTQ rights.

On Lewis’ congressional website, there is a page dedicated to LGBTQ issues, which prominently features a powerful quote from Lewis.

“I fought too long and too hard to end discrimination based on race and color, to not stand up against discrimination against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters,” it reads. He then goes on to quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with whom he led the movement for racial equality, saying, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

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Lewis was a co-sponsor or vocal advocate for over a dozen congressional bills that sought to either expand LGBTQ rights or limit anti-LGBTQ discrimination, including the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) and the Respect for Marriage Act.

The Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, noted that Lewis worked closely with Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., during the drafting of the Equality Act — which would modify existing civil rights legislation to add protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity— and was a lead sponsor of the legislation.

Following Lewis’ death, Alphonso David, the Human Rights Campaign’s first Black president, called Lewis “a hero and civil rights icon who pushed our country closer to the promise of a more perfect union.”

“Future generations will learn how he faced down discrimination with courage and defiance, boldly challenging the United States to envision a future where every person, no matter their race, sexual orientation or gender identity, has an equal chance at the American Dream,” David said in a statement.

Lewis appeared at an HRC fundraiser in 2016 and told the crowd of mostly LGBTQ people, “You and I are partners.”

“We are part of an ongoing struggle to redeem the soul of America, to help people in this country and around the world come to grips with one simple truth: We are one people,” he added. “We are one family. We are the human family.”

York said she hopes Lewis’ drive to fight for equality — even if not for a group to which he belonged — will inspire others to do the same.

“He gave full-throated, passionate appeals that all of God’s children be treated equally, and that that included LGBTQ people, and that meant so much to me, both in my career as an advocate and advocating for other marginalized communities that I may not identify with, like the transgender community and intersex community,” she said. “He was a powerful example of how we should be doing advocacy at the margins, and I hope every member of Congress has taken a lesson from him.

A changer of hearts and minds

While Lewis’ LGBTQ advocacy undoubtedly changed hearts and minds across demographic spectrums, York, who is Black, said there was a special significance and power in having a straight, cisgender Black man as such a visible ally.

“I think that all of those identities that he carried helped Black fathers, brothers, nephews all across the country learn how to talk and accept their own children, their own relatives who had been hurt by homophobia and transphobia,” she said, adding that he “gave permission for so many others who were potential allies to be able to step out of their fear” and support LGBTQ equality.

“John Lewis is a man of deep faith — no one could question that,” she added. “So for someone who is a man of deep faith to say that LGBTQ people matter, are equal and deserve protection and dignity, that gave other people the language to be able to say the same thing in their families, in their churches, in their homes. I believe that probably saved countless lives.”

In a sobering survey released this month, The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ youth suicide prevention and crisis prevention organization, found that 2 in 5 LGBTQ youth in the U.S. have “seriously considered” suicide in the past year.

“I do believe that those numbers could have been even higher if it wasn’t for the full-throated advocacy that John Lewis gave, and by him doing that, the permission he gave to others to really show up as the fathers that they wanted to be for their children,” she said.

‘Power of his legacy’

In a posthumous op-ed in The New York Times on Thursday, Lewis wrote: “Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.”

York said this message underscores the “power of his legacy.”

“We all have the capacity to create change,” she said, adding that Lewis “started as a teenager doing work to bring equality for all people, and that’s something that our youth should be excited about.”

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“These protests and rallies over the course of this summer are moving this country forward,” she added. “If we can just stay in it together — despite hurt feelings, despite trauma, despite the healing we’ve got to do together, despite our blindness to other people’s experiences — if we remain open to it all, we can create a country we can be proud of for our children and our children’s children.”

York said this coming together of different groups is also part of Lewis’ legacy.

“It hasn’t been about one group over the other,” she said. “It’s been about all of us getting across the bridge together.”

And, if Lewis’ many supporters are successful, that bridge could one day be named after him. 

Two of the largest banks in the U.S. say they will stop donating millions of dollars to Florida’s private school voucher program after a newspaper investigation found that some of the program’s beneficiaries discriminate against LGBTQ students.

In a statement to NBC News and CNBC on Wednesday evening, Wells Fargo confirmed that it would no longer participate.

“We have reviewed this matter carefully and have decided to no longer support Step Up for Students,” the San Francisco-based bank said of the voucher program. “All of us at Wells Fargo highly value diversity and inclusion, and we oppose discrimination of any kind.”

In a tweet to a Florida lawmaker Tuesday, Fifth Third Bank, based in Cincinnati, said it has told officials with the voucher program that it will also stop participating.

“We have communicated with program officials that we will not be contributing again until more inclusive policies have been adopted by all participating schools to protect the sexual orientation of all our students,” the bank tweeted to Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, the state’s first LGBTQ Latino legislator.

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The banks’ decisions come less than a week after an Orlando Sentinel investigation found that 156 private Christian schools with anti-gay views educated more than 20,000 students across the state with tuition paid for by Florida taxpayers.

“Florida’s scholarship programs, often referred to as school vouchers, sent more than $129 million to these religious institutions,” the Sentinel reported on Jan. 23. “That means at least 14 percent of Florida’s nearly 147,000 scholarship students last year attended private schools where homosexuality was condemned or, at a minimum, unwelcome.”

The Sentinel investigation found that 83 of the 156 schools with anti-gay views do not permit LGBTQ students to attend and that some of the schools prohibit students whose parents are gay.

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In a separate post published Tuesday, the paper’s editorial board identified five companies with pro-LGBTQ policies — Fifth Third Bank, Wells Fargo, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, and Waste Management Inc. — that donated to the voucher program in exchange for write-offs on their state tax bills.

When Smith, the state legislator, tweeted out Tuesday’s Sentinel article, Fifth Third Bank responded via Twitter thanking him for his feedback, telling him that the company “stand[s] with #LGBTQ students and parents” and informing him that Fifth Third Bank would no longer contribute to the voucher program.

Rep. Carlos G Smith✔@CarlosGSmith · Jan 28, 2020

“Companies have the same choice in front of them. People are watching to see what they do. Or what they don’t do.”

That means YOU @FifthThird bank. Marching in @OrlandoPride while also funding anti-LGBTQ schools is NOT okay! https://twitter.com/mlafferty1/status/1222197476582739971 …Mike Lafferty@mlafferty1Our editorial looks at how companies say they support gay rights while at the same time using their tax dollars to support discrimination at private schools. https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/editorials/os-op-anti-gay-discrimination-private-schools-taxes-companies-20200128-pasgcpncfbduffej26e35par2u-story.html …

Fifth Third Bank✔@FifthThird

(Part 1) Thanks Rep. Smith for your feedback. We definitely stand with #LGBTQ students and parents. We have communicated with program officials that we will not be contributing again …1942:24 PM – Jan 28, 2020Twitter Ads info and privacy65 people are talking about this

Shortly after the bank’s announcement, Smith publicly applauded the company for “supporting equality.”

Rep. Carlos G Smith✔@CarlosGSmith

BREAKING: @FifthThird bank announces they will pull $5.4M in contributions to the private school voucher program @StepUp4Students that funds anti-LGBTQ schools. We applaud @FifthThird for supporting EQUALITY!! 1/2 https://twitter.com/fifththird/status/1222284431643246592 …Fifth Third Bank✔@FifthThirdReplying to @CarlosGSmith(Part 1) Thanks Rep. Smith for your feedback. We definitely stand with #LGBTQ students and parents. We have communicated with program officials that we will not be contributing again …4113:36 PM – Jan 28, 2020 · Tallahassee, FLTwitter Ads info and privacy136 people are talking about this

Emails seeking comment from the state Education Department, Geico, Southern Glazer’s and Waste Management did not get immediate responses Wednesday evening.

Last July, before the Sentinel’s investigation, a columnist for the paper wrote about the voucher program. Following the column’s publication, at least one company, Rosen Hotels & Resorts, an Orlando-based hospitality chain, stopped donating to the program.

The column also led state Sen. Darryl Rouson to pre-file a bill last year that would prohibit private schools that deny enrollment to students based on “race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity” from benefiting from the program.

Rouson’s bill, which was officially introduced this month, has not yet been considered by the Legislature.

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