John Gallagher

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Republicans are using anti-trans issues in a desperate attempt to motivate their base

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By every account, Republicans are facing a disaster in this fall’s elections. Donald Trump is incredibly unpopular and seems intent on doing everything possible to increase his party’s unpopularity. The odds are very high that Republicans will lose the House, and Democrats are increasingly optimistic about capturing the Senate as well, with competitive races even in deep-red strongholds like Texas and Iowa.  Faced with looming electoral disaster, Republicans are turning to their old standby, anti-LGBTQ+ attacks. This year, the focus is on anti-trans attacks, including anti-trans ballot initiatives in four states. Ballot measures in Washington and Arizona would prohibit trans athletes from participating in sports, while a ballot […]

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With its efforts to placate Trump, business is proving once again that it is a fickle LGBTQ+ ally

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With so many frontal attacks on the LGBTQ+ community coming from the federal government, it’s easy to overlook the impact from the private sector. But according to a new report from Out Leadership, which describes itself as “the global LGBTQ+ network,” it finds that the red and blue state divide matters and affects the ability of businesses to thrive. According to the 2026 State LGBTQ+ Business Climate Index, “the gap between inclusive and hostile states is wider than it has ever been, and it is still widening.” Indeed, the current index, the eighth that Out Leadership has released, expanded its methodology […]

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Between Trump and Christian nationalism, MAGA Catholics have a big problem

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As if going to war with Iran wasn’t enough, the Trump administration has apparently chosen to go to war with the Vatican as well.  In a move that is shockingly stupid even by his own standards, Donald Trump unleashed a vicious attack on Pope Leo on Sunday. In a screed on Truth Social,Trump complained that the pope was “WEAK on crime and terrible on foreign policy,” and even took credit for the pope’s election. “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting […]

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Gay billionaire Peter Thiel is now a self-appointed theologian

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Having apparently exhausted his interest in seasteading and blood transfusions from young people to ward off aging, gay Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel has found a new topic to explore: the anti-Christ.  Since last fall, Thiel has been touring a four-part lecture series on the figure mentioned in the New Testament as the primary opponent of Jesus in the final days before his second coming. If that seems like an offbeat topic for a Silicon Valley millionaire, Thiel has always been known for his esoteric interests.  Thiel’s interest in the anti-Christ may date back to his own upbringing, as he was raised an […]

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Evil Homo: A flood of Kennedy Center cancellations ruined Ric Grenell’s holiday season

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The fallout from Donald Trump’s decision to illegally rename the Kennedy Center to give himself top billing continues to grow, creating an embarrassing situation for the president. As it turns out, artists don’t want their work associated with Trump, despite legal threats from Ric Grenell, the president’s openly gay factotum who heads the center. On Monday, just days before their scheduled New Year’s Eve concerts, the Cookers, a highly regarded jazz group, announced that they were cancelling their appearance at the Kennedy Center.  “With deep regret, we must share that we are unable to perform as planned on New Year’s Eve,” the group […]

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Last week’s Supreme Court rulings show just how fragile marriage equality may be

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The Supreme Court wrapped up its term last week, and true to form, the right-wing majority went out of its way to prove that they think their job is to give Donald Trump and Christian nationalists as much power as possible. That the Court’s radical decisions coincided with the tenth anniversary of the Obergefell ruling, which legalized marriage equality, should give one pause as to where the future of marriage may be headed. In perhaps the most shocking ruling, the six conservative justices did away with the national injunctions prohibiting Trump from ignoring birthright citizenship.The fact that birthright citizenship is as solid a constitutional […]

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Donald Trump’s attack on Harvard is a sign of what could be coming for LGBTQ+ organizations

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One of the fundamental tactics of authoritarianism is to attack universities. After all, they foster free thought and inquiry, which are anathema to right-wing leaders who wish to crush dissent. Under Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Florida has been a pioneer in this effort. But no American leader has ever been as diligent in trying to crush higher education as Donald Trump. In particular, he has singled out Harvard, the nation’s most prestigious university, for punishment. Last week alone, Trump threatened to pull $3 billion in research funding from Harvard to send to vocational schools, issued an order intended to prevent the university from enrolling international students and […]

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Democrats need to stop acting like it’s politics as usual & start acting like it’s war

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As disgusting as the Trump administration’s destruction of democracy is, what makes the pain that much worse is the sheer fecklessness of the response by the so-called opposition. Perhaps it was always too much to expect the elite mainstream media, which has always been as much amused as appalled by Trump, to call out the damage that he is doing (The New York Times has long been particularly disastrous on this account).  But you would think that at least the Democrats would take Trump’s attacks on government, civil rights, and human health as the crises that they are. Instead, the party has […]

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As HHS secretary, RFK Jr. would be a direct threat to LGBTQ+ health

Among Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees, it’s hard to choose who is the most dangerous to LGBTQ+ rights. But it’s easy to pick out who is the most dangerous to LGBTQ+ health: Robert Kennedy Jr. As the nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kennedy has the potential to make literal life-and-death decisions about the nation’s health. But his crackpot ideas are a direct threat to the very issues that can matter most to the LGBTQ+ community.  Much has been made of Kennedy’s conspiracy-ridden, fringe beliefs. He believes that vaccines cause autism, even though abundant evidence has shown no […]

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Anti-trans attacks aren’t the winning election issue the right thinks it is

Republicans are waging war against the transgender community, believing that they have a winning electoral strategy.  In terms of causing both physical and emotional damage, they have succeeded, as states like North Carolina and Missouri have banned gender-affirming treatment for minors. But the attacks may not be quite the brilliant campaign tactic that the GOP thinks it has. If anything, Republicans are finding that they may have gone too far. Moreover, based on history, attacking the trans community may be more of a losing proposition at the ballot box than Republicans believe.  The current run of attacks on the trans community is sadly not […]

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