Daniel Villarreal

Over 25,000 LGBTQ+ people attended the Human Rights Campaign’s “Out for Kamala Harris” virtual event last night. During the event, over 40 LGBTQ+ and allied actors, activists, government officials, and drag performers all shared their enthusiasm for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Together, the attendees and featured guests helped raise over $300,000 for the Harris campaign, and 1,500 attendees signed up to help get out the vote for Harris.  The event, which was live-streamed via Zoom and YouTube, included queer actors George Takei, Raven Symoné, Sophia Bush, Wilson Cruz, Zachary Quinto, and Jonathan Del Arco; Democratic LGBTQ+ elected officials […]

Attacks on rainbow flags, crosswalks, and other LGBTQ+ symbols occurred in over 40 cities nationwide during Pride Month, according to NBC News. Overall, the attacks occurred in 21 states; a majority occurred in blue states like California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington, but some also occurred in red states like Idaho, Montana, Texas, and West Virginia.  While most of the theft and vandalism of these symbols seem to have been carried out by “lone wolf” individuals rather than coordinated by extremist groups, many local police, news reports, officials, and victims stated that this year’s number of attacks increased from previous years. […]

A completed draft Texas Republican Party platform refers to homosexuality as “an abnormal lifestyle choice,” gender-affirming care as “child abuse,” and Drag Queen Story Hour as “predatory sexual behavior.” The platform has been voted on by state party delegates and will be formally adopted on Wednesday after a final vote count. The list of state party priorities calls for an end to legal same-sex marriages, same-sex parenting, all LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws, all transgender rights — including gender-affirming care for children and adults — a ban on LGBTQ+ content in schools and libraries, the defunding of all diversity-equity-inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and legal protections […]

Police in Indianapolis have identified a 12th body buried on the estate of now-deceased wealthy Republican businessman Herbert Baumeister, a closeted gay man who is believed to have murdered over 20 men and boys that he met in Indianapolis gay bars during the mid-1980s and ’90s. DNA and forensic genetic genealogy testing helped police determine that a bone found on Baumeister’s 18-acre Fox Hollow Farm estate in Westfield belonged to Jeffrey Jones. Jones lived in Fillmore, Indiana — a city located 63 miles southwest of Westfield — when he mysteriously disappeared in 1993. A team of law enforcement and forensic […]

This week, Congress will replace a statue of a white supremacist with one of a queerphobe… and its unveiling ceremony on Thursday will likely be attended by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R), who has ties to anti-LGBTQ+ Christian nationalists. A statue of influential anti-LGBTQ+ evangelical Christian Rev. Billy Graham statue will replace one of former North Carolina Gov. Charles Aycock (D). Aycock was an early 20th-century education advocate and slave owner who sought to permanently disenfranchise and subjugate Black voters. He said Black people contributed nothing to society, despite America’s wealth being built on the backs of unpaid Black labor. […]

Larry Walraven, a 75-year-old Las Vegas man, allegedly pointed a gun at his gay male neighbors and said, “I hope you f**gots die.” He then allegedly said, “I’m going to kill you f**king f**gots,” and fired the weapon four times — none of the shots hit the men. One of the men called 911 to report the alleged assault. When police questioned Walraven, he said “he had no clue what happened” and claimed that he spent the entire night taking care of his mother inside his home, KLAS-TV reported. Police identified the weapon as a BB gun — BB guns kill an […]