John Russell

Members of the Proud Boys disrupted yet another Pride-themed children’s program at a public library earlier this week. On Monday, seven men wearing the violent far-right group’s signature black and yellow polo shirts and other Proud Boys paraphernalia entered the St. Joseph County Public Library’s Virginia M. Tutt Branch in South Bend, IN where the Rainbow Family Storytime and arts and crafts event was scheduled to take place. Photos posted on social media also show the men flashing white supremacist hand signs while smiling for the camera. Members of the extremist group, whose leaders were indicted earlier this month on charges of […]

The most recent round of primary elections this week saw wins for LGBTQ lawmakers in at least three states ahead of November’s general election. Former meteorologist Eric Sorensen won the Democratic primary for Illinois’s 17th Congressional District, putting him on track to be the first out LGBTQ lawmaker ever elected to Congress from the state. He’ll face off against Republican nominee Esther Joy King in November in a race that the New York Times is calling a toss-up. In Colorado, incumbent Gov. Jared Polis (D) will defend his seat against Republican nominee Heidi Ganahl. The only out gay man elected governor of a U.S. […]

Nearly a dozen anti-LGBTQ bills are scheduled to go into effect today in states across the U.S. Alabama, Florida, Indiana, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah will all see restrictions placed on trans athletes, bans on LGBTQ topics in public schools, and other laws. More than 300 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state houses across the county this year. Over two dozen have passed, and ten of those go into effect today—a grim record for 2022. According to the Trevor Project, July 1 represents the single day when the most anti-LGBTQ bills will be implemented this year. “We’ve already seen […]

Members of the Cape Fear Proud Boys staged a demonstration outside a local library in Wilmington, N.C., on Tuesday where a Pride-themed storytime event was being held. The 15 masked men wearing the violent far-right group’s trademark black and yellow shirts were allowed into the library during the event by New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office deputies. “I certainly felt like I was in danger when they entered the building,” Emily Jones, a parent who attended the event with her 17-month-old daughter, told Wilmington’s Star News Online. According to a statement from the sheriff’s office, a deputy positioned himself between the demonstrators and […]

Students and alumni at Seattle Pacific University have been staging a sit-in for weeks, protesting the private Christian university’s policy banning employees from being gay. The protest culminated with students handing rainbow flags to SPU President Pete Menjares in exchange for their diplomas at their graduation ceremony. The protests came in response to a decision by SPU’s board of trustees in May not to change the school’s “Employee Lifestyle Expectations,” which bar employees from engaging in “sexual behavior that is inconsistent with the University’s understanding of Biblical standards.” According to the policy, that includes same-sex sexual activity. “Employees who engage in any […]

The number of queer bars is declining nationwide according to a new study examining the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns on U.S. LGBTQ spaces. The study’s author, Greggor Mattson, a professor of Sociology at Oberlin College who also curates the Who Needs Gay Bars project on Twitter, found that between 2019 and Spring 2021, the number of gay bars in the U.S. dropped by about 15%. Compared with the similar decline between 2017 and 2019, Mattson writes, this indicates a steady rate of decline in recent years. Mattson and his researchers compared historical from the Damron Travel Guide and compared it to an online census of […]

Tuesday’s primary elections represented significant milestones for LGBTQ candidates in California, Iowa, and Montana. In total, six candidates endorsed by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which tracks out LGBTQ elected officials nationally, advanced their campaigns to the November elections. California saw four Victory Fund “Game Changer” candidates advance their campaigns in national and statewide races. In the state’s 41st Congressional District, out Democrat Will Rollins, a former federal prosecutor, won his primary and will now face off against incumbent Ken Calvert. The Victory Fund calls Calvert “one of the most anti-LGBTQ members of Congress.” “Will’s victory sets the stage for a battle between […]