A 21-year-old trans woman, Ciara Watkin, has been found guilty of sexual assault after a court heard she did not tell the man she was dating that she was not assigned female at birth.
The BBC reports that Ciara Watkin told the man she was on her period to stop him finding out she had not yet had gender confirmation surgery. The court heard that she had identified as female and used the name Ciara since the age of 13.
Prosecutors argued that the man was unable to make “informed consent”, after he claimed he wouldn’t have had sexual contact with Watkin had he known she was trans.
When Watkin later revealed that information, the man filed a complaint with police telling officers had he known, he would not have met her as he did “not swing that way”.
The jury reached a guilty verdict after just one hour of deliberations following a two-day trial. She will be sentenced on 10 October and was ordered to sign the sex offenders register within three days.
Updated Crown Prosecution Service “deception as to sex” guidance
Ciara Watkin’s conviction comes in the wake of a recent update to the Crown Prosecution Service’s “deception as to sex”, previously “deception as to gender”, guidance.
The “deception as to gender” guidance initially arose following the case of McNally v R. [2013] EWCA Crim 1051 when the Court determined that “depending on the circumstances, deception as to gender can vitiate consent”.
In 2013, Justine McNally, 18, entered an online relationship with another young woman, using the name Scott McNally. When they met in person McNally continued to present as Scott and they engaged in sexual activity. She was convicted of six counts of assault by penetration.
Policy Exchange is a British think tank based in London described as “highly influential” by OpenDemocracy. However, the sources of its £3,951,594 annual funding are unclear. Policy Exchange was rated as “highly opaque” in a 2016 report, noting that it is one of only a “handful of think tanks that refuse to reveal even the identities of their donors.”
The CPS said that they received 409 responses to the 2022 consultation in total, including from “gender critical stakeholders, women’s rights groups and lesbian and gay persons.” They stated: “We have given careful consideration to all of the responses received and have made significant revisions to the final version of the guidance.”
The CPS subsequently changed the wording of the guidance to “deception as to sex” instead of “deception as to gender” and clarified that the guidance applies to suspects who are trans and non-binary.
In their summary of the changes, CPS also note: “We have clarified that there is no onus or responsibility on a complainant to confirm or discover the sex or gender identity of the suspect, and we have made extensive revisions to the factors to consider in relation to whether the complainant was deceived.”
Leading travel guide Lonely Planet has unveiled its must-visit travel list for 2025, and the beautiful French city of Toulouse has taken the top spot for a city break.
The fifteenth edition of Lonely Planet’s “Best in Travel” hotlist just dropped and it features 30 trending destinations that you need to visit in the new year.
The 2025’s hotlist is focused on lesser-known “gems”, cities and regions and “fresh takes” on tourist hotspots around the globe as the debate about overtourism continues to rage.
Many popular destinations have introduced tourist taxes to mitigate the impact, including Amsterdam which plays host to 22 million overnight visitors a year, a figure that an increasing number of locals think is too high.
Topping Lonely Planet’s list of uncrowded hidden gem cities is Toulouse in France, with Pondicherry in India and Bansko in Bulgaria coming second and third, respectively. The list also includes cities in Italy and Brazil.
Lonely Planet’s best in travel 2025
Top 10 best cities, revealed
Toulouse, France
Pondicherry, India
Bansko, Bulgaria
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Genoa, Italy
Pittsburgh, USA
Osaka, Japan
Curitiba, Brazil
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Edmonton, Canada
Garonne river and Dome de la Grave in Toulouse, France (Getty)
The great news for LGBTQ+ travellers is that Toulouse is an extremely queer-friendly destination to visit.
Appropriately known as the “Pink City” because of its distinctive architecture pinkish-orange terracotta bricks and ochre rooftops, Toulouse is a haven for LGBTQ+ visitors, with a thriving gay scene.
LGBTQ+ bars and clubs are mostly located in the city centre within walking distance of the Place du Capitole, including Limelight: a lively and friendly club that runs regular theme nights and events.
There’s also popular feminist/queer bar La Gougnotte, which hosts an incredible drag king show as well as a wide range of other LGBTQ+ friendly events throughout the year.
Other things to do in Toulouse
Architecturally and visually, Toulouse is an Instagram-lovers dream. The Place du Capitole, mentioned above, is the heart of the city and a good starting out point for a day of exploring. One side is taken up with the neoclassical 128m-long façade of the Capitole, Toulouse’s city hall, built in the early 1750s.
If you fancy soaking up a bit of culture before you hit the cocktails, you can take tours of the interior – including the spectacular late-19th-century Salle des Illustres, decorated by famous artists.
The historic Basilica Saint-Sernin is another place you’ll definitely snap an iconic photo; you can climb the tower and see an amazing view across the city’s russet-coloured rooftops like the one at the top of this article.
Another must-see location is the stunning Couvent des Jacobins, one of the city’s oldest and most famous buildings, with its seven-story octagonal bell tower, beautiful courtyard garden and a palm tree-shaped vaulted ceiling. It’s a real oasis in the heart of a busy and bustling city.
Le Couvent des Jacobins (Getty)
Speaking of gardens, the Jardin Japonais Toulouse is another truly stunning spot. It’s a great place for couples to take a romantic walk. One recent review on TripAdvisor says: “Had a lovely stroll through this beautiful and well-maintained garden on a sunny Sunday. Free to enter. Lovely trees and flowers, lots of shady benches and little trails to explore. Koi the size of cats! And a little snack place with good ice cream and artisanal beers.”
And if the streams and koi ponds in the Jardin Japonais aren’t enough for you, another fun water activity is to book a sightseeing cruise and set sail on the beautiful river Garonne, which runs right through Toulouse.
You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to food and drink in Toulouse. As talking candlestick Lumière once famously said in Beauty and the Beast: “After all, this is France, and the dinner here is never second-best.”
If you want a fine dining experience, the Michelin guide-listed restaurant Les Sales Gosses should probably be on your radar. Its name translates as “little brats” and the good news is the prices won’t decimate your bank account. It offers a lunch menu where you can get three courses of fancy French fare for €29.
There are plenty of places to indulge your sweet tooth as well, like Crêperie Le Menhir. This restaurant has a mind-boggling array of savoury galettes and sweet pancakes w on offer, with prices starting at just €4.
Vegetarians and vegans are well catered for in Toulouse, despite the myth that France isn’t as vegan-friendly as other European countries. There are an impressive 89 veggie/vegan-friendly restaurants in the city, including BRÛLÉ, a highly-rated vegan coffee shop selling home-made pastries, lunch and brunch.
So, what are you waiting for? Get your queer, vegan, feminist selves to Toulouse in 2025 for some pastries, a drag king show and a romantic boat trip on the Garonne river.
Rural retail chain company Tractor Supply are facing calls for a boycott for, amongst other things, donating money to diversity and inclusion causes, which included projects that support LGBTQ+ youth.
Right-wing activist Robby Starbuck, who directed the controversial, gender-critical, anti-LGBTQ+ documentary The War on Children, recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to call out Tractor Supply for their diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) work, including: “having Pride month decorations in their office.”
As well as complaining about Tractor Supply’s “LGBTQ+ training for employees, funding pride/drag events, they have a DEI Council, funding sex changes, climate change activism, pride month decorations in the office, DEI hiring practices and LGBTQ+ events at work,” Starbuck also singled out their donations to non-profits.
In a follow up tweet, he wrote: “Wow, Tractor Supply bragged in one of their yearly reports that they donated more than $570,000 to DEI, including LGBTQ+ YOUTH! Yes, Tractor Supply thinks kids can be trans and they support it by the looks of this. How many of their customers know this?”
He attached an image to the tweet, which seems to be a screenshot. It reads: “In 2021, Tractor Supply donated more than $570,000 to DE&I causes, benefitting veterans, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ+ youth, Hispanic Team Members, women and Black and African Americans.”
The screenshot appears to have been taken from a sustainability report released by Tractor Supply in 2022, titled “Stewards of Life Out Here“.
Robby Starbuck on set during taping of “Candace” on July 12, 2021 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Getty)
Starbuck described these donations as “woke priorities” in his lengthy tweet, which was accompanied by an over seven-minute long video where he speaks to camera about the rural “seed and feed” store. The video starts with Starbuck sharing pictures of Pride month screensavers on Tractor Supply’s in-house staff TVs.
The combined tweet and video has had over two million views on X so far.
The majority of replies to the tweet called for a boycott of Tractor Supply over their DEI practices, which are standard in most workplaces. One top reply says: “My husband was just looking at some fencing they have, well over 1000.00. Bet he changes his mind when I show him this later today.”
According to recent figures, many Fortune 500 companies in the US have DEI initiatives. In 2023, 154 Fortune 500 companies released diversity disclosures, nearly double the 79 of 2022, according to a report from marketing firm Purpose Brand. Whether Starbuck intends to go after all 154 of them remains to be seen.
She says she had been asked to do an interview about how the lives and mental health of LGBTQ+ people were being affected by bans and restrictions on drag performances and gender-affirming care.
Electronika shared emails from the production team with Rolling Stone, which show that when they first approached her, the producers offered her the opportunity to participate in an upcoming documentary “tentatively titled It Takes A Village from an award winning director.”
She was told that It Takes A Village intended “to delve deeper [into] exposing how these recent drag bans and gender-affirming care bans have been made, look at how it has affected the mental health of trans people and look forward into what future progress will look and sound like.”
“When I saw Mr. Starbuck walk through the hallway, I was like, ‘Wait a minute. I know this f**ker,” Electronika told Rolling Stone, adding, “they tried to convince me to stay and I said, ‘You need to stop recording right now.’ The little red light kept going … and then they wouldn’t stop.”
Tractor Supply is far from the only retail chain that has faced boycott calls over DEI and Pride initiatives in recent years, though a rural supply company is certainly an unusual target for the right.
In fact, just today, right-wingers decided to take aim at IKEA’s rainbow Pride charity cake. To mark Pride Month 2024, the UK branch of the Swedish furniture chain announced its popular rainbow cake is back in its restaurants and will be sold throughout June, with 100 per cent of the profits going to LGBT+ Switchboard.
Bigots, of course, were naturally outraged by the existence of this multi-coloured confectionery.
Last month, he told the BBC that the incident had made him feel that “homophobia is still an issue in this country”.
“I have been out since but even walking from the bar to the taxi I was really on edge. You always think ‘it won’t happen to me’,” he added.
The exterior of the Irish Bar, Seamus O’Donnells – the alleged attack took place outside (Google)
“It was just a regular night, the pub had a drag event on and they were handing out paper pride flags.
“My boyfriend was given one and we went outside when we were approached by someone who ripped the flag out of his hand and started stamping on it.
“They were trying to get a reaction out of us, calling us homophobic slurs.”
He told the BBC that his boyfriend was also attacked during the violent incident, which he said “blindsided” him and left him with “horrific” bruising.
One man has already come forward in connection with the attack, however police are still trying to identify the other two men. A CCTV image of the pair was re-shared on X/Twitter on March 29 in an attempt to move the investigation forward.
Chief Inspector Vicks Hayward-Melen said: “Our investigation into this concerning incident is progressing and we now want to identify the three men in the CCTV image released, as we believe they can help us with our enquiries. If this is you, or if you know who any of the men are, please call us.
“We will be keeping the victim, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and the owners of the Seamus O’Donnell’s bar updated on the latest developments.”
Speaking to the BBC in February about the alleged hate crime, the man said he was “worried” that those responsible had not been found.
He said: “I do worry that I’d be recognised if I’m out in Bristol and it is hard to enjoy yourself when that’s on your mind. I am Bristolian, I have lived here all my life, and I have always felt safe here and accepted.
“For me to experience something like this in my home city is really upsetting.”
The body of a 21-year-old transgender man, Alex Franco, has been found in a “remote desert area in Utah County,” close to the city of Lehi.
It’s believed that Franco died from a single gunshot, however police say they are waiting on a coroner’s report.
Taylorsville Police, who are investigating, said that two teenagers aged 15 and 17 have been arrested and charged with “multiple felony charges” in relation to what they are treating as a possible homicide.
Alex Franco had previously been reported as missing, possibly abducted, on Monday (18 March), after bring seen getting into a 2000s Jeep Liberty. Just after Franco got into the vehicle, witnesses heard a gunshot and the jeep sped away. Franco’s body was found on Tuesday 19 March.
Police said video footage from the scene “clearly identified the sound reported by witnesses as a gunshot.” The alleged abduction is currently part of the investigation.
Alex Franco’s body was discovered in a remote desert some 50 miles from the area where he was last seen stepping into a Jeep on Sunday afternoon, according to the Taylorsville Police Department, who had previously appealed for witnesses. (Facebook)
Police say that they are continuing to search for a third occupant of the vehicle. They also believe that Franco knew at least one of the people in the car and got into the vehicle willingly.
Franco’s girlfriend, Alyssa Henry, told KUTV that “friends of friends” had picked Franco up on Sunday afternoon, seemingly with a plan to drive to a park.
“The investigation so far has not revealed that this was a hate crime,” Lt. Aaron Cheshire of Taylorsville Police reportedly told the press at a conference on Tuesday (19 March).
Alex Franco (everloved.com)
“It was confirmed by the State Medical Examiner’s Office on Tuesday that the body found was the person who was reported as abducted,” Taylorsville PD also confirmed in the press release.
Alex Franco’s loved ones have created a crowdfunding campaign to accept donations for Alex’s funeral expenses, writing: “Alex’s death was unexpected, and we don’t have the funds we need to pay for his funeral… We love you so much Alex, we miss you. Fly high with the angels. Rest in paradise until we meet again.”
Police are urging anyone with information about the incident to call the non-emergency dispatch number for Taylorsville PD at 801-840-4000.
Former Las Vegas Raiders star Carl Nassib made history during Pride month in 2021 when he came out as gay.
“I actually hope that, one day, videos like this and the whole coming-out process are just not necessary,” he said in a post on Instagram. “But until then, I’m going to do my best, and my part, to cultivate a culture that’s accepting, that’s compassionate.”
Having also played for the Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Nassib announced his retirement from the NFL last September.
Many people believe that Nassib was the first player to come out, but that’s far from the case. Sure, he was the first to come out while on the sport’s regular season roster, but the title of “first” actually goes to Dave Kopay, who revealed his gay identity 26 years earlier, three years after retiring.
What’s more, in 1969 Kopay was on the same team as two other gay NFL football players, training under the legendary (and open-minded) Washington coach Vince Lombardi. He also played for the San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers.
To date, there have only ever been 16 out gay or bisexual NFL players – hardly any, in the grand scheme of things, especially when you think about the huge number of footballers who have donned a uniform since the NFL was founded in 1920.
There are undoubtedly more players who never came out, but sadly that means their stories are lost in the mists of time.
Thankfully, we do know the incredible, powerful and heart-wrenching stories of three players. Two lost their lives during the Aids crisis, but all of them were truly talented.
These are the stories of running back Dave Kopay, who played between 1964 and 1972, Jerry Smith (1965-77), a tight end with Washington, and Ray McDonald (1967-68), a running back, also for Washington.
Dave Kopay
Dave Kopay was the first professional team sport athlete ever to declare his homosexuality. He made the announcement in 1975, three years after his retirement, following a nine-year NFL career.
He played for five teams during his career: San Francisco, Detroit, Washington, New Orleans and Green Bay. After he came out, he tried to get into coaching, but he claims that NFL and colleges expressed no interest after his sexuality became public knowledge.
Dave Kopay, pictured in 1977 (Getty)
Kopay spent a lot of his younger years denying his sexuality. He joined the Theta Chi fraternity when he arrived at the University of Washington, and it was at the there that he says met the man he now calls the great love of his life. But he was still very much in the closet, and trying to deny who he really was. After all, this was the early 1960s, when declaring he was gay would have essentially ruined his prospects.
Describing that time to the University of Washington Magazine, he said: I was never thinking I was a gay man because I just wasn’t like ‘one of them’. Just talking about it like that almost reinforces the utter bullsh*t that society uses to identify gay folks.
“I didn’t have the knowledge or strength to take it on then, and even after I did take it on, there were many, many times that it almost consumed me and took me into deep depression.”
Letters from fans helped him to find the strength to carry on, the former running back explained.
Kopay is alive and well. He became a Gay Games ambassador, and was a featured announcer in the opening ceremony for Gay Games VII, in Chicago in July 2006.
Jerry Smith
In 1986 Kopay revealed, in his autobiography, a brief affair with fellow NFL star Jerry Smith, who played for Washington (then the Redskins, but now called the Commanders) from 1965 to 1977, playing in a losing Super Bowl team in 1973 – although he didn’t name Smith at the time.
Tight end Smith kept his sexuality very private, focusing on his career. After officially retiring at the end of the 1978 season, he quietly came out as gay to a few family members. He moved to Austin, Texas, where he co-owned a gay bar called The Boathouse.
Jerry Smith kept his sexuality private even after revealing he had Aids. (Getty)
In 1986, Smith revealed that he had contracted AIDS, hoping to bring awareness about the disease and de-stigmatise it – a brave move as, at the time, the prevailing belief was that it was an illness that only affected “drug addicts and hairdressers” as Jim Graham, director of the Whitman-Walker Clinic, put it in an interview with the Washington Post in 1986.
Smith’s teammates all visited him as he lay in a Maryland hospital. He died, aged 43, on October 15, 1986, of an AIDS-related illness, a year after being diagnosed with HIV. Twenty-three players from Washington’s 1973 Super Bowl team reunited for the funeral, with several, including Sonny Jurgensen, Charley Taylor and Bobby Mitchell, serving as pallbearers.
“I don’t know how many of the players even knew he was gay, but I’ll tell you one thing: if they had known, they wouldn’t have cared,” Jurgensen has said.
Ray McDonald
As it turns out, Washington had not one, not two, but three gay men on the roster in 1969. The third was Ray McDonald, who had studied at the University of Idaho.
Questions about McDonald’s sexuality are believed to have started late in his college career, with rumours spreading that he was seeing a man at Washington State University, about 10 minutes from Idaho’s campus.
He went on to be drafted by Washington and during the rookie talent show at a training camp in 1967, McDonald delighted some with his singing skills, while others, it’s said, raised their eyebrows.
Ray McDonald played for Washington for two seasons and once delighted teammates with his singing voice. (University of Idaho)
At the time, Washington was coached by the now-legendary Vince Lombardi, who was no stranger to the LGBTQ+ community: his brother was gay, and many former players say he knew some of his team were gay. Not only did he not have a problem with it, but he also went out of his way to make sure no one else would make it a problem.
“Lombardi wanted to give him every benefit of the doubt and every chance and said if he found out that any coach was challenging McDonald’s manhood, they [would] be fired immediately.”
Former running back A.D. Whitfield, who played for Washington between 1966 and 1969, agreed that McDonald’s sexuality was something of an open secret.
“People more or less knew he was gay,” he said. “In the first year, there were all kinds of stories about incidents around town.”
One of the biggest incidents was when McDonald was reportedly arrested for having sex with another man in public.
It’s tragic that none of these great athletes felt they could come out during their career, but their legacy lives on through players like Carl Nassib.
Last week, a 52-year-old gay man was fatally shot in a Tampa dog park in what his friends are describing as a hate crime.
When he was shot, the victim had reportedly just had a run-in with another man who had allegedly been harassing him at the park for months, repeatedly threatening him and hurling homophobic slurs.
TheTampa Bay Times reports that the day before a man fatally shot John Walter Lay – known as Walt – Lay recorded a video of himself speaking directly to the camera, explaining, “So this morning while I’m walking — and we’re the only two here — (the gunman) comes up to me and screams at me, ‘You’re going to die, you’re going to die,’ and I asked him to just leave me alone, and so far he has.”
Friends of Lay told The Tampa Bay Times that the next morning, at the same park and at about the same time , the man shot Lay dead.
A local sheriff’s office have confirmed that 65-year-old Gerald Declan Radford was the shooter. He claims he shot Lay in self-defence. However, his friends don’t agree that would have been the case.
“In my opinion, there’s no way in hell this is really self-defense,” said Albert Darlington, 68, who was Lay’s friend and landlord. “For over a year, Dec has done nothing but harass Walt. He screams and hollers and calls him a f—-t every time he gets to the dog park. He’ll sit there and he’ll say, ‘I’d like to punch him right in the f–king mouth’ … and it has gotten worse and worse and worse.
Florida has been a hotbed of anti-LGBTQ+ activity recently, much of it instigated by Republican governor Ron DeSantis. In May 2023 alone, six new bills were signed by DeSantis in attacking LGBTQ+ rights in the state.
In response to that, Equality Florida and the Human Rights Campaign issued updated travel advice for LGBTQ+ people considering visiting or moving to Florida, telling queer people to “reconsider” their plans and that it was not a safe place for LGBTQ+ travellers to visit.
A photo of John Walter Lay, taken in 2018 (Facebook)
Lay’s friends told The Tampa Bay Times that he worked in customer service for a health care company, and delivered food and drove for Uber in the evenings. One of his friends added, “He was nice to everyone and treated everybody as a human being.”
His friends claim that Lay and Radford were initially on friendly terms. But after Radford found out that Lay was openly gay, Radford began to target Lay, calling him slurs when he was walking in the park. It’s said that Radford’s politics ‘leaned to the right’.
The Tampa Bay Times reviewed Radford’s Facebook page and found that it included reposted memes that were disparaging to LGBTQ+ people.
It’s believed that the shooter is yet to be arrested or charged.
”We looked around at each other and I thought, this guy just killed our friend and he is not in handcuffs?” one of Lay’s friends is reported as saying. “It was unbelievable to us.”
As the community mourns Lay’s loss, his faithful dog Fala stands as a poignant reminder of his enduring legacy. Lay’s final wish was that a friend in Tampa would take in his dog if anything happened to him, as he wanted to ensure Fala’s continued care within the familiar confines of the Tampa community he called home.
Lay’s friend intends to continue to walk Fala in the dog park despite the fatal attack, explaining that Fala “would be happier with the Tampa pack he already knows”.
