Brooke Sopelsa

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John Lewis’ Motorcade Makes Symbolic Stop to Honor Decades of LGBTQ Advocacy

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.” […]

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‘Grandfather of the Gay Rights Movement’ Gets his Due in ‘The Deviant’s War’

One of the most widely held myths about the fight for LGBTQ equality is that it started at New York City’s Stonewall Inn during the summer of 1969. That uprising, while pivotal, was in reality preceded by a grassroots “homophile” movement that has been largely overlooked. “Every single person who identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community can thank Frank for for developing what we now celebrate each and every June, which is Pride.” Eric Cervini, a historian, is trying to change that. His first book, “The Deviant’s War,” documents the efforts of gay activists during the late 1950s and […]

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Wells Fargo Pulls Florida Voucher Donations over Anti-gay School Policies

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.” […]

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Transgender Teen Sues New York Over Birth Certificate Gender Marker

A 14-year-old transgender boy is suing New York state over its policy barring minors from changing the gender marker on their birth certificates. “Possessing accurate identification documents that are consistent with a person’s gender identity — a person’s core internal sense of their own gender — is essential to their basic social and economic well-being,” the lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the LGBTQ legal advocacy group Lambda Legal, states. “Access to employment, education, housing, health care, banking, travel and government services all hinge on having appropriate and accurate personal documentation that reflects a person’s true identity.” Since 2014, New York state has […]

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Trump Rule Would Let Faith-based Adoption Group Exclude LGBTQ Parents

The Trump administration is proposing a rule that would allow faith-based foster care and adoption agencies to continue getting taxpayer funding even if they exclude LGBTQ families and others from their services based on religious beliefs. The announcement generated a sharp backlash from some Democratic lawmakers and LGBT advocacy groups. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the Trump administration was working overtime to “implement cruel and discriminatory policies, and wasting taxpayer dollars in its obsessive pursuit.” President Donald Trump has made addressing the concerns of evangelical voters a priority of his presidency. The White House says the rule from the Department of Health […]

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Prominent Trans Activist Sarah McBride to Run for Office in Delaware

Sarah McBride, a prominent transgender advocate who made history in 2016 by becoming the first openly trans person to ever address a major political party’s convention, announced Tuesday that she’s running for office in her home state of Delaware. McBride will run for Delaware’s 1st Senate District, where incumbent Harris McDowell, a fellow Democrat, announced July 1 that he would retire in 2020. The district covers Bellefonte, Claymont and parts of Wilmington, the state’s largest and most populous city. “I’ve spent my life fighting for people to have dignity, peace of mind, and a fair shot at staying afloat and getting […]

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Buttigieg Talks to Rachel Maddow about Coming Out, Weight of ‘the Closet’

It’s been less than four years since gay marriage was legalized in the U.S., and LGBTQ people still face hurdles in adopting children, joining the military and buying wedding cakes. But on primetime TV Monday night, a remarkable conversation took place: A presidential contender and one of the country’s most-watched cable news hosts discussed the weight of the metaphorical closet and their experiences in coming out as gay. “You went through college, and then the Rhodes Scholarship process and getting the Rhodes scholarship and going to work for McKinsey and joining the Navy and deploying to Afghanistan and coming home […]

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