Greg Owen

Precious Brady-Davis, running for reelection as Commissioner at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, has a long history as an environmental and social justice advocate, with work at the Sierra Club, the Beyond Coal campaign, and now as chief strategy officer at Center on Halsted, the largest LGBTQ+ center in the Midwest. The commissioner, 40, brought those experiences to her work at the city agency and gained many fans along the way with her focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. As commissioner, Brady-Davis pushed investments in Black and Brown communities facing flooding and expanded green spaces for people […]

Chris Gallant, running for Congress from New York, is riding high in the aftermath of what could have been a scandal that brought his campaign down. It didn’t. “It’s been a huge week,” his spokesman said before putting the candidate on the phone. “We’re feeling great about it.” Gallant, 37, was already facing long odds in a Long Island district that voted for Donald Trump three times. Then four weeks ago, a New York Post story surfaced X-rated photos of Gallant that went way beyond the dick pics that have doomed other candidates (see: fellow New Yorker Anthony Weiner). “Some of the snaps depicted […]

In the fight for trans rights and against a pair of draconian ballot initiatives in Washington State, a grassroots campaign is confronting not only the toxic effects of the Trump administration’s crusade against trans people, but the deep pockets of the MAGA billionaire who’s sponsoring them. Brian Heywood, a hedge fund manager and close ally of President Donald Trump, is the “villain we’re up against,” Libby Watson, campaign manager for No Hate in WA State, tells LGBTQ Nation. That organization is the collection of non-profits, parents, medical professionals, students and teachers arrayed against Heywood’s self-funded right-wing political action committee, Let’s Go […]

A dead dog draped over their mailbox. A tampon shot through with a bullet. Gunshots in the night, and shouts of “Damn queers!” from passing cars. Those were some of the greetings Wanda and Brenda Henson earned when they opened Camp Sister Spirit in Jones County, Mississippi, in 1993. The “married” pair had moved from Gulfport, about a hundred miles south, after years helping women victims of domestic abuse and racism find resources. Their camp, 120 acres on the site of a former pig farm, would be a retreat with the ambitious mission “to eradicate hatred and differences through education and interaction […]

Nightlife promoter Matthew Moody has big plans for Phoenix’s up-and-coming gayborhood in the Melrose district: a leather bar called the Barracks. Along with “Eagle” and “Anvil,” the “Barracks” name has a long history and is a shout-out to the leather community everywhere. Moody used to DJ at the bar of the same name in Palm Springs, California, before it closed in 2024. Now he’s brought what’s left of that bar 400 miles east to another desert outpost, where he hopes to resurrect it. Artwork, like pieces portraying a vintage motorcycle and larger-than-life-size Tom of Finland leather men, loiter along one […]

A U.S. Appeals Court with three Donald Trump appointees decided on Wednesday to overturn a decision by a lower court throwing out a suit by two Alaska Airlines employees who sued the company over charges of religious discrimination, Reuters reports. The plaintiffs claim that they were fired for expressing anti-LGBTQ+ views, which they say was an act of religious discrimination. The women are represented by the right-wing “religious freedom” legal organization First Liberty Institute. “You cannot be fired because ​your employer does not like your religious beliefs,” Stephanie Taub, the group’s senior counsel, said after the reversal. Alaska Airlines claims religious beliefs […]

In the small town of Monroeville, Pennsylvania, a city council member accused staff at the public library of grooming kids with a Pride Month display in the children’s section, which librarians titled “Love is Love.” The councilman may have broken the law in his crusade to have it removed. On June 19, council member Bill Krut reposted a photo from the Monroeville Library’s Facebook page, showing the books on display, including “I Am Perfectly Designed” by Karamo Brown, “The GayBCs” by M.L. Webb, and “Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle” by Nina LeCour. Krut captioned the repost with […]