Jack Walker

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Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ bar under fire for allowing blackface drag performance

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An LGBTQ+ bar in Pittsburgh has come under fire after a performer went on stage in blackface during its open stage event. Blue Moon Bar hosts open stage events weekly, inviting local artists to perform for bar patrons. Last week, posts began circulating on social media of a drag participant performing in blackface during the September 23 showcase. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “How this person was even allowed to step on stage wearing this is beyond me,” Pittsburgh drag artist Pineapple Honeydew wrote on Instagram. “This is actual disgusting, […]

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As hospitals make deals with Trump ending trans care, protesters warn NewYork-Presbyterian: Don’t follow them

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Dozens of people picketed outside NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Thursday afternoon as part of a campaign challenging restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors at New York City hospitals. Protesters allege that the Manhattan-based hospital has stopped accepting new minor patients for gender-affirming care, mirroring restrictions at other health centers nationwide that cut youth off from gender-affirming care amid pressure from the Trump administration. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “We’re at NewYork-Presbyterian because they have ended care for trans kids, capitulating to the Trump administration’s attacks,” said Eliel Cruz, deputy […]

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Gavin Newsom moves to shield California transgender patient records from federal scrutiny

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California is adding new medical privacy protections for LGBTQ+ adults facing federal subpoenas and expanding access to injectable medicines for HIVprevention. That is thanks to a spate of six new bills passed by the Democratic-led state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday. Newsom said he signed the bills to strengthen LGBTQ+ rights in the state amid a federal crackdown on such protections. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “The Trump administration has launched an all-out assault on the LGBTQ community, using medical records […]

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Florida trans woman and her partner attacked while walking to work by women in a car

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A Florida transgender woman and her partner were assaulted on a Miami street Sunday night while walking to work. Video footage shows the confrontation. Felyz Rodriguez and Davin Lopez told South Florida NBC affiliate WTVJ that women in a passing car yelled at them for walking in the road. Lopez said he gestured toward the car, its driver turned around, and the confrontation became physical. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “It was all unprovoked. We were just walking,” Rodriguez, who is trans, told WTVJ. Lopez said one of […]

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Gay Dutch prime minister & Zohran Mamdani visit LGBTQ+ archive — and hear from young New Yorkers it serves

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Rob Jetten, the gay prime minister of the Netherlands, met with New York CityMayor Zohran Mamdani on Thursday afternoon for a visit to a historic LGBTQ+archive and community center in Manhattan. The Advocate was invited to tag along. Jetten, the nation’s youngest and first out gay prime minister, is currently visiting New York for the United Nations General Assembly. He has also made visiting LGBTQ+ cultural institutions a visible part of his trip. Earlier this week, Jetten stopped by the Stonewall Inn, which is widely regarded as the birthplace of the gay rights movement. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in […]

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Two more hospitals strike DOJ deals to end gender-affirming care for minors

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Major hospital systems in New York and Pennsylvania have struck deals with the Justice Department that carry steep financial penalties and keep gender-affirming services closed to minors. NYU Langone Health will pay the department $8.5 million, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center will pay $950,000, the department announced Friday. The deals come after providers in New York, Texas, Ohio and Connecticutadopted similar agreements. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. President Donald Trump has moved to ban gender-affirming care for minors since his second term began. Last December, the Trump administration threatened […]

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Nonprofit crisis line supports marginalized people wary of police intervention

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When Vanessa Green answers calls to Call Blackline, her responses vary widely. Some people need referrals to trusted nonprofits for emergency resources. Others just need to vent to someone who understands their experience, and Green is happy to fill that role. “We don’t give an opinion,” Green, who helped create Call Blackline in 2014, toldThe Advocate in an interview. “We’re there to affirm their experiences navigating racism and white supremacy and anti-immigration in this country.” Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. Call Blackline is a nonprofit crisis […]

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Hospitals dodge questions on restoring trans youth care despite judge ruling they can keep providing it

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Many hospitals that cut off youth from gender-affirming care over concerns around the Trump administration are remaining silent on whether they will resume care, despite a federal court giving their programs legal clearance. Last December, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, directed hospitals across the country to stop providing minors gender-affirming care, or risk losing funds from federal health programs like Medicaid. But on April 18, a federal judge in Oregon struck down the policy, ruling that Kennedy had overstepped the federal government’s role and created inconsistencies with existing laws. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The […]

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Minnesota town honors one of America’s earliest rural Pride movements with new monument

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A new historic marker is coming to a Minnesota small town where, more than two decades ago, one of the nation’s first rural LGBTQ+ Pride movements took root. On May 28, local LGBTQ+ advocates in Pine City will dedicate a historic marker commemorating the launch of East Central Minnesota Pride in 2005, which members describe as the country’s first rural Pride organization. The monument will be placed in Voyager Park, where the group held its first official celebration. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “LGBTQ+ history is so […]

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Supreme Court passes on case over outing trans students

The U.S. Supreme Court has left in place a lower court decision granting schools discretion over whether they disclose to parents the name and pronouns a student uses. A circuit court in Massachusetts previously ruled that teachers and school staff were not required to provide parents with the information, but parents Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri appealed the decision, arguing that the policies of Baird Middle School in Ludlow led their child to be transgender. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The student asked teachers to use a different name and […]

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