LGBTQ Nation

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Caravan of Hope brings LGBTQ+ justice & support to rural queers in red states

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Fearful Philadelphians began contacting Angela Giampolo immediately following Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory. Though many queer locals knew about her LGBTQ+-focused law firm (which she established in 2008), she began wondering about people in rural areas and red states: Who would they contact to help protect their legal rights? That’s when she dreamt up Caravan of Hope, a way to offer mobile legal services to LGBTQ+ people in underserved areas. Using mostly her own money, she purchased an RV trailer, renovated it into a mobile office and planned a 30-day trip to 14 cities across the nation — an over 5,000 […]

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Planned Parenthood resumes gender-affirming care after patient backlash

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Planned Parenthood’s Arizona branch will resume providing gender-affirming healthcare to transgender patients. The chapter had previously paused the treatments in response to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sending out a memo warning federally funded healthcare institutions against providing gender-affirming care. The Arizona branch faced public pressure after news publications began reporting on its decision to end trans-related healthcare. Patients receiving gender treatment at the branch told news outlets they had received voicemails late on Friday, April 11, informing them that their upcoming appointments were being cancelled. One of these patients, a 23-year-old trans woman from Mesa, Arizona, […]

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Pride organization rejects sponsorships from companies slashing DEI & turns to community for help

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Cincinnati Pride announced that it will no longer accept corporate sponsors who have retreated from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and will move to a community-funding model. Pride event organizers state that companies fear being targeted by the White House after the president signed an executive order entitled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing,” which aimed to end DEI programs in government offices.  Though only applying to federal agencies, this move has put political pressure on corporations as well, resulting in many of them slashing their DEI programs. Last month, for example, Anheuser-Busch declined to sponsor […]

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Bells Larsen forced to cancel US tour dates due to trans visa rules

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Trans Canadian singer Bells Larsen has been forced to cancel his US tour over the administration’s anti-trans visa rules.  Larsen cancelled his tour following the Trump administration signing legislationthat required IDs, including passports and visas, to show a person’s sex as “either male or female”. The requirement has already been implemented by US citizenship and Immigration Services.  Taking to Instagram, Larsen confirmed that his tour will be cancelled following the American Federation of Musicians stating that he can no longer apply for a visa that aligns with his gender.  The post added: “To put it super plainly, because I’m trans (and […]

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College cleverly keeps its LGBTQ+ center open despite laws against DEI

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Numerous colleges nationwide have shuttered their LGBTQ+ centers under political pressure to end all diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) programs, but not at Utah’s Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). Peter Moosman was hired at SLCC in 2019 to help open up its Gender and Sexuality Student Resource Center, an office supportive of LGBTQ+ and female students. The center is open to all students: It has a drop-in lounge, offers connections to community groups and resources, and hosts events, programs, and trainings for affinity months like LGBTQ+ History Month or Women’s Heritage Month. Moosman, who currently serves as the center’s manager […]

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City tries to ban Pride over security & drag concerns. Organizers are fighting back.

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The municipal government of Naples, Florida has refused to grant Naples Pride an event permit, citing increased security costs due to a probable rise in anti-transgender protests. The city also asked event organizers not to allow admittance to anyone under 18 years of age — so, Naples Pride is now suing the city government. The all-ages event is scheduled for June 7. The city told event organizers that they’d need to pay $36,000 for security, much more than what’s required for similarly sized events or what had been charged annually since the event began in 2017, Advocate reported. The city based its […]

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Russia bans Elton John AIDS Foundation for trying to “denigrate” the country

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Russia’s General Prosecutor on Thursday banned the Elton John AIDS Foundation from operating in the country, claiming it’s part of an effort “by the ‘collective West’ to discredit traditional values and escalate social tensions” in Russia. The ban stopped short of deeming the foundation an “extremist” group under the umbrella of a 2023 order by Russia’s Supreme Court designating the so-called “international LGBT social movement” as an “extremist organization.” That declaration paved the way for increased persecution of LGBTQ+ activists throughout the country and abroad, adding to “gay propaganda” laws that were already erasing LGBTQ+ identity from public life in Russia. The Elton […]

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Trump admin orders scientists to research transition “regret”: It’s “America’s Cass Review”

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According to Nature, several National Institute of Health (NIH) employees who wish to remain anonymous confirmed that the White House is instructing the biomedical agency to study the negative effects of gender transitioning. This directive was issued after nearly every research project on transgender health was defunded by the NIH. Since Donald Trump was sworn in on January 20th, he has been on a crusade to cut “unnecessary spending within government agencies” and heavily limit the rights and public presence of trans people in society.  The NIH, the world’s largest financial contributor to biomedical research, was not spared from the ire of […]

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Taliban arrests & beats two queer women in Afghanistan. They might get death by stoning.

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LGBTQ+ activists Maeve Alcina Pieescu and Maryam Ravish were arrested by the Taliban last month while trying to flee Afghanistan. According to the U.K.-based human rights non-profit the Peter Tatchell Foundation, the two women face possible torture and execution. “They are expected to be tortured to reveal the names of other LGBTs and sentenced to a long jail term or possibly executed,” said Nemat Sadat, CEO of Afghan LGBT+ network Roshaniya, which is working with the foundation to press for the two women’s release. In a March 31 press release, the Peter Tatchell Foundation said that 19-year-old Ravish and 23-year-old Pieescu, […]

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US Citizenship and Immigration Services implements “cruel & unnecessary” anti-trans policy

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This week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will only recognize “two biological sexes.” In a Wednesday, April 2, press release, the agency said that it was “updating the USCIS Policy Manual to clarify that it only recognizes two biological sexes, male and female.” The release cited President Donald Trump’s January 20, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”  The president’s anti-trans order similarly declared that the U.S. government will only recognize two sexes, male and female, and falsely characterized so-called “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex” as fundamental attacks on women […]

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