Josh Jackman

Seth Owen was sent to gay ‘conversion’ therapy by his parents (gofundme) A gay teenager whose parents sent him to ‘conversion’ therapy and forced him out of their home will be able to go to college after his teacher raised more than $70,000 in six weeks. Seth Owen, 18, is set to achieve his “life goal” of attending Georgetown University, thanks to his former biology teacher Jane Martin and the more than 1,100 donors who have contributed to his cause. The Florida high school co-valedictorian was sent to gay ‘conversion’ therapy when he was in his sophomore year, becoming one […]

Governor Carney signed the bill into law on July 23 (johncarneyde/twitter) Delaware has become the fourteenth state to ban gay ‘cure’ therapy. Democratic Governor John Carney signed the bill into law on Monday, meaning that licensed mental health professionals will no longer be allowed to subject children to the discredited practice. Connecticut, California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Washington, Maryland, Hawaii, New Hampshire and Washington DC have already banned gay ‘cure’ therapy. Maine would have become the fourteenth state to outlaw the practice, but despite being voted through the state’s House and Senate, Republican Governor […]

A man was beaten and held hostage for four days because of his sexuality, a court has heard. The alleged victim, who is 50, was held against his will in a Massachusetts flat, prosecutor Dylan Krasinski said on July 2. Police have charged Jackson Sugrue, 19, with a hate crime in connection to the alleged assault, which has echoes of Zak Ostmane, a 35-year-old French LGBT activist who was drugged, raped, beaten and held hostage for two days before risking his life to get free last year. Meghan Kelly, a spokeswoman for the Middlesex District Attorney’s office, said Sugrue also […]

A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump from passing a ban on transgender people from serving in the military. US District Judge Marsha Pechman compared the policy to the historical exclusion of blacks from the military and the ban on mixed units when she rejected a revised ban in April. And the Seattle judge has once again stood in Trump’s way, handing down a ruling on June 15 which rejected the administration’s request to stop most trans people from serving while it appeals her order from April, which created an injunction on instituting the ban. In her latest ruling, […]

A transgender woman has been shot dead in public after an altercation in Portland, Oregon. Gigi Pierce, 28, became the 11th trans person to be killed in the US this year when she died on May 21. That number may yet rise when police determine the cause of death of 39-year-old Nicole Hall, whose body was found in White Rock Creek in Dallas, Texas, earlier this month. Sophia Grace Adler, 33, was arrested at the scene in downtown Portland and later charged with murder. Sophia Adler (Multnomah County Jail) She pleaded not guilty in court on Tuesday. Pierce, from Boise […]

Oklahoma lawmakers have voted in favour of a bill which enable adoption and foster agencies to reject same-sex couples because of their religious beliefs. The Oklahoma House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 1140 on April 26, after the bill had been passed by the state Senate on March 13. If Republican Governor Mary Fallin signs it into law, the legislation will come into affect on November 1 this year. The bill says that “no private childplacing agency receiving neither federal nor state funds shall be required to perform, assist, counsel, recommend, consent to, refer, or participate in any placement of […]

A significant number of straight men have gay sex, a study has shown. The analysis of 24,000 undergraduate students revealed that of the men whose last hookup was with a male partner, one in eight defined as heterosexual. This figure twice as high among women, with one in four whose last sexual experience was a lesbian one identifying as straight. One explanation for this gap in same-sex encounters between men and women is another study, published in March, which showed that women who have sex with women are much, much more likely to orgasm. That study, which had 2,300 respondents, […]