John Russell

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He escaped anti-gay violence by coming to the US. Now he faces deportation for using the bathroom.

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An asylum-seeker who fled anti-LGBTQ+ persecution in Ecuador is now in ICE custody after being arrested as part of a controversial undercover operation targeting men who were allegedly cruising at New York City’s Penn Station. The man, identified only as Isrrael, told Gothamist this week that he believes federal Amtrak police targeted him because of his appearance and mannerisms. According to the outlet, which, along with nonprofit news website The City, first reported on the Amtrak Police Department’s sting operation last month, Isrrael was on his way to meet a real estate broker in July when he entered a Penn Station men’s room. In a […]

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The climate crisis will create 1.2 billion refugees. LGBTQ+ people will be especially affected.

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An estimated 1.2 billion people could be forced to migrate by 2050 due to extreme weather and natural disasters related to climate change. The hardships of relocating and sharing limited survival resources will fall hardest on LGBTQ+ climate refugees, numerous experts say. In 2023, London’s Pride parade was briefly halted by a small group of LGBTQ+ activists with U.K.-based climate justice coalition Just Stop Oil protesting the event’s inclusion of floats and sponsorships from high polluting industries. Ahead of their demonstration, the LGBTQ+ supporters of Just Stop Oil released a statement explaining that they would take action to oppose the government’s continued development of new fossil […]

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Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos made history when most LGBTQ+ orgs were gay, white, & male

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“I know that younger generations may not know about us,” historian and author Lydia R. Otero says of Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos (GLLU) in the 2023 PBS documentary about the group, Unidad, “but we made life better for queers of color and we made a difference because we made the world better.” Founded in Los Angeles in 1981 by a group of gay and lesbian Latinx and Chicanx activists, GLLU was a trailblazing organization that took an intersectional approach to LGBTQ+ advocacy decades before that term and concept entered mainstream political organizing. As Laura M. Esquivel — often called “La madre […]

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Trans couple takes over beloved bookstore after anti-trans law forces owners to move

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A South Dakota community has rallied to help a transgender couple buy the town’s only bookstore now that the state’s anti-trans bathroom ban has forced its original owner to move east to protect his 10-year-old daughter. As The Washington Post reports, the people of Vermillion, South Dakota have so far donated over $27,000 via a GoFundMe campaign for Nova and Elias Donstad to make a down payment on Outside of a Dog, a beloved family-owned bookstore. The shop’s owner, Mike Phelan, opened the store shortly after moving to Vermillion with his family five years ago and discovering that the town did not have a […]

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Board members called this nonbinary teacher a “groomer.” Now the district has to pay up.

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An Arizona school district has settled a discrimination lawsuit brought by a former teacher who is nonbinary. As The Arizona Republic reports, River Chunnui sued the Peoria Unified School District and two members of its governing board, Heather Rooks and Rebecca Hill, last year, alleging “discriminatory, retaliatory, and torturous actions” based on Chunnui’s gender identity. According to their March 2024 complaint, the former Desert Harbor Elementary School special education teacher sent a March 31, 2022, email informing fellow staff members of how they could support and acknowledge trans and nonbinary students on International Transgender Day of Visibility. After their email began circulating online […]

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European Pride celebrations see funding shortfalls because of the “Trump effect”

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The Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the U.S. aren’t just affecting American Pride celebrations this year. Events across Europe are reportedly also feeling the pinch as corporate sponsors pull back their financial support for fear of crossing the president. According to Context News, organizers in Greece, Bulgaria, Estonia, Denmark, Germany, and other European countries have all seen a marked decrease in corporate sponsorships this year, which they attribute to the “Trump effect.” In January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at ending DEI efforts within the federal government, while also pressuring private […]

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President ends major HIV vaccine research program, setting progress back a decade

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The current presidential administration has ended funding for the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD), a move that researchers say will likely set efforts to end HIV globally back by a decade.   The two teams leading the $258 million vaccine program at Duke University and the Scripps Research Institute were informed of the move on Friday, May 30, by officials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), The New York Times and CBS News reported. A senior NIH official told the Times that the agency’s leadership had reviewed the program and “does not support it moving forward.” The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has also […]

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Lesbian moms in Italy just won an important right in a “historic” court victory

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In a major victory for lesbian couples, Italy’s top court ruled this week that the same-sex partners of women who conceive via in vitro fertilization (IVF) have the right to be legally recognized as their children’s parents. As Reuters reports, in a ruling announced on Thursday, May 22, Italy’s Constitutional Court found that it is unconstitutional to deny legal recognition to the nonbiological mother of children conceived abroad via IVF. Doing so, the court said, violates the children of lesbian couples’ rights to care, education, and emotional continuity from both parents. Prior to the court’s decision, a 2004 law prevented the nonbiological […]

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Trump administration deported a gay man to a country where he was raped

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A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to return to the U.S. a gay asylum-seeker it wrongfully deported. In his Friday, May 23, ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, noted that the man, identified only by the initials O.C.G., has no known criminal history and was the victim of multiple violent anti-LGBTQ+ attacks in his home country of Guatemala prior to seeking asylum in the U.S. last year. As the Guardian reported, a U.S. immigration judge ruled earlier this year that O.C.G. would likely face persecution and torture if sent back to his […]

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LGBTQ+ grads celebrate “Lavender Graduation” despite universities canceling their events

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Over the weekend, LGBTQ+ college graduates in Utah came together for a “Lavender Graduation” ceremony after their schools canceled their own long-standing events. According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Lavender Graduations have been held on college and university campuses across the U.S. since 1995, when Dr. Ronni Sanlo held the first event for three students at the University of Michigan. Sanlo, a Jewish lesbian, conceived the ceremony as a way to honor the accomplishments of LGBTQ+ graduates after she was barred from attending her own children’s graduations due to her sexuality.  Lavender Graduations are similar to many specialized commencement events often […]

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