LGBTQ Nation

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Georgia could swing away from a GOP trifecta. These LGBTQ+ people are making that happen.

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In a state like Georgia that has a Republican trifecta — a Republican governor and a party majority in both chambers of the state legislature — queer community leaders and political strategists are working diligently to prove Atlanta isn’t the state’s only allegedly progressive community.  Georgia has roughly 8 million registered (active and inactive) voters. Georgia’s Secretary of State online data hub indicates there have been 121,898 more active voters since the December 2022 runoff election, and each one will count in a battleground state that could determine the nation’s future.  In September, the Georgia State Election Board voted to have all […]

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Gay candidate Colin Lovett is running his campaign Harvey Milk style

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The gay 41-year-old Democratic candidate has an undergrad degree in mathematics, a master’s in business administration, and a professional career spanning regulatory rate optimization and corporate pharmacy benefit management. With a knack for numbers, he’s all about finding the most elegant solution to complicated problems. He’ll find plenty in the Missouri Legislature if he’s elected the next state rep from District 100 in St. Louis. Lovett says Jefferson City is mired in dysfunction. While his CV may sound dry, the married girl dad brings passion rooted in Midwest values – like hard work, devotion to family, and humility – to […]

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Fact Check: Does Kamala Harris support “taxpayer-funded sex changes” for prisoners & immigrants?

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Former President Donald Trump’s campaign released a new ad centered around the claim that Vice President Kamala Harris “supports taxpayer-funded sex changes for prisoners and illegal aliens.” The ad highlights this claim while showing pictures of her with a trans person, a nonbinary person, and a drag queen. “Kamala is for they/them,” the 30-second ad says. “President Trump is for you.” LGBTQ Nation evaluated the ad to see whether it holds up to scrutiny. Kamala’s History While not explicitly stated within the ad, the core of the claim refers to a 2019 questionnaire sent out from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asking […]

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A bomb threat at a drag story hour couldn’t stop a crowd from showing up to spread love

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A Drag Queen Story Hour at the public library in Somerville, Massachusetts was canceled last weekend after someone called in a bomb threat.  While police had been prepared for anti-LGBTQ+ protesters, they didn’t anticipate a bomb threat, which reportedly came through right as the event was about to begin. As such, officials had to evacuate and sweep the building, the Boston Globe reported.  The right-wing group Super Happy Fun America — which has thrown “straight pride parades” in the past — appears to have taken credit for the protest, though not the bomb threat.  “I am thrilled to announce that the Drag Queen Story Hour […]

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The election could push LGBTQ+ mental health to the edge. Queer activists are fighting for a lifeline.

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Anti-trans legislation sweeping the country is proving deadly.  A recent study determined that such laws increased suicide attempts among transgender and nonbinary youth by as much as 72%. And that’s just one instance of how LGBTQ+ mental health is on the ballot this election.  Studies overwhelmingly show that queer people are disproportionately likely to experience depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation or to engage in self-harming behaviors, particularly LGBTQ+ youth. According to the Trevor Project, 41% of queer youth considered taking their own lives within the past year, and an estimated 60% say they were not able to access treatment to care for their […]

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HRC spends $2 million so pro-LGBTQ+ voters will stop Trump’s “reign of terror” in November

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The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is going all in to get out the vote for the Harris-Walz campaign. This week, the Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Votes PAC announced the launch of a seven-figure digital ad campaign aimed at mobilizing pro-LGBTQ+ voters in four key battleground states in the remaining weeks before the November 5 election. Combined with separate campaigns aimed at getting out the vote generally and supporting Democratic Senate candidates, Equality Votes PAC is spending $2 million to safeguard LGBTQ+ rights in the upcoming election. The campaign, according to an October 9 press release from the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, will present […]

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These 3 out Latinx legislators in border states are tackling hot-button election-year issues

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During a huge reproductive rights protest she attended as a student, Marianna Anaya looked around and had an “epiphany.” As a young person, she thought that creating legislation around such a controversial issue should be simple: If everyone working on the issue would just look at what the data and research supported, then the legislative solution should be apparent. But, she told LGBTQ Nation, “I saw that best practice wasn’t always what got passed, which really led me into this curiosity for politics.” “We didn’t necessarily have to protest policy,” she remembers thinking, “if we were the people in charge of […]

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Missouri “experts” defending gender-affirming care ban exposed as quacks

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In the midst of an ongoing legal battle over Missouri’s ban on gender-affirming care, so-called expert witnesses in favor of the ban have had their credibility called into question, meaning their testimonies may either be thrown out or given little weight in the court’s decisions. John Michael Bailey, a fringe psychologist who promotes the debunked theory of autogynephilia, was called by Missouri’s Attorney General as an expert witness in support of the legislation, The Missouri Independent reports. Autogynephilia refers to the idea that trans women transition either due to the act of transitioning being a sexual fetish or to lure straight men […]

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Affordable housing project for queer seniors faces setback despite rising need

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A much-needed affordable housing project for LGBTQ+ seniors in San Francisco’s Castro District has hit a setback, as state agency funding was denied, even though the proposal was described as “a great project,” The Bay Area Reporter wrote. Mercy Housing California, a senior living facility for elderly LGBTQ+ people, had applied for nearly $39 million from the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program, a joint initiative by California’s Department of Housing and Community Development and the Strategic Growth Council. The funds would have funded a 187-unit affordable housing development in the Castro, the city’s historically gay neighborhood. Amar Cid, deputy director […]

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Bathhouses once thrived in San Francisco. The city’s gay supervisors are fighting for their return.

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Two San Francisco city supervisors are trying to make it easier for new gay bathhouses to open in the city. Last week, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, whose district includes the historically gay Castro neighborhood, introduced legislation that would repeal the San Francisco Police Department’s Article 26. According to local Fox affiliate KTVU, the section of the city’s police code puts the burden of permitting new bathhouses on the SFPD. “We’ve come a long way on the way to bring back gay bathhouses to San Francisco,” Mandelman, who is gay, told KTVU. “It’s encouraging that there are entrepreneurs who are actually trying to open […]

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