Christopher Wiggins

As conservative lawmakers across the country target transgender rights and revisit long-settled questions about LGBTQ+ equality, Delaware moved in the opposite direction. On Tuesday, Gov. Matt Meyer, a Democrat, signed legislation modernizing the state’s parentage laws, expanding legal protections for children and families formed through assisted reproduction, surrogacy, donor conception, and other paths to parenthood commonly used by LGBTQ+ people. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The updated Delaware Parentage Act may lack the political flash of debates over bathrooms, sports, or marriage equality — but for many LGBTQ+ families, advocates say, few laws […]

As the Trump administration continues its unprecedented assault on LGBTQ+ rights, some of the nation’s most prominent queer leaders and allies gathered Tuesday night in Washington, D.C., with a message that was equal parts warning, celebration, and call to action: don’t give up. Bob the Drag Queen hosted Equality PAC’s annual National Pride Gala, attended by members of Congress, activists, celebrities, and donors, packed a ballroom just blocks from the Capitol, where speakers repeatedly returned to a common refrain — that the current wave of anti-LGBTQ+ attacks, particularly those targeting transgender people, can be defeated through political organizing, visibility, and persistence. Stay up to […]

Pete Buttigieg is leading the field of potential Democratic presidential contenders for 2028, according to a new national poll. The latest Emerson College Polling survey, released this week, found Buttigieg at 18 percent support among Democratic primary voters, narrowly ahead of California Gov. Gavin Newsom at 16 percent. New York U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez followed at 11 percent, while Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and former Vice President Kamala Harris each received 10 percent. Another 18 percent of voters said they remain undecided. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The results offer an early snapshot of a Democratic Party still searching for its […]

After years of escalating anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in American politics, a new national report suggests the consequences are no longer confined to campaign ads, legislative fights, or online outrage. For many LGBTQ+ candidates, the threats have become intensely personal and increasingly physical. The threats arrive in direct messages, voicemail inboxes, comment sections, and late-night emails. Sometimes they follow candidates home. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. One LGBTQ+ candidate reported that a neighbor shot at their house after they advocated for transgender rights. Another described being shoved off a […]

When Bentley Hudgins talks about democracy, they rarely begin with ideology. They talk about brown water running from neighborhood taps. About losing housing after an apartment complex changed ownership. About sleeping in a 1997 Dodge Dakota pickup truck during a brutal Georgia summer. About being disbelieved by doctors for years before finally receiving treatment that restored their hearing. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. And they talk about the exhaustion of watching politicians spend years targeting transgender people while basic problems remain unsolved. Support Independent Journalism LGBTQ+ stories deserve to […]

More than 400 people have donated upwards of $40,000 for the husband of a beloved Chicago gay community member, who prosecutors say was gunned down by his spouse’s ex-partner after years of alleged harassment and stalking claims that had previously reached the courts. The killing of Nicholas “Pup Tugger” Calzaretta, 37, has shaken Chicago’s LGBTQ+ leather and pup communities and intensified scrutiny over the limits of protective orders in cases involving escalating threats and intimate partner violence. Neighbors watched from behind police tape as officers flooded a quiet residential block in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. Children were arriving at nearby schools. And beside Calzaretta’s body, […]