Maggie Baska

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Winter Olympics poised to be gayest ever as another queer athlete qualifies

Another queer Team USA athlete has just qualified for the Winter Olympics – skeleton slider Andrew Blaser. Blaser beat out skeleton veterans Austin Florian and John Daly to become the only man on the Team USA skeleton team for the 2022 games in Beijing. It’s the first time that the US is sending only one male skeleton athlete to the Olympics – so no pressure at all. The truly terrifying winter sport involves sledders plummeting head-first down a steep and perilous icy track on a tiny sled. According to the Olympics website, it is considered to be the “world’s first sliding […]

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Religions around the world are contributing to transphobic violence, activists warn

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A group of activists invite social media to join their campaign to ‘disrupt the religious violence trans people experience every day’. Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi and J Mase III edited the Black Trans Prayer Book to dismantle toxic religious practices that alienate people in the LGBT+ community. The anthology is composed of work by Black trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people. In 2019, the pair hosted their first annual event for the #TransphobiaIsASin Campaign. The online campaign highlights religious violence that impacts trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people worldwide – especially those from Black, Indigenous and other marginalised communities. Now, on Saturday (15 January), Dane and […]

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American Idol star Clay Aiken running for Congress after hateful Republican’s homophobic rant

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American Idol star Clay Aiken has launched a second congressional bid after being inspired to fight hate perpetuated by North Carolina’s top lawmakers. Aiken was the runner-up on the second season of American Idol in 2003. Afterwards, he launched a music and acting career – even appearing as acontestant on Celebrity Apprentice hosted by former president Donald Trump. In 2014 he turned his attention to politics, winning the Democratic primary in North Carolina’s second congressional district, but he was defeated in the general election by Republican incumbent Renee Ellmers. Now he’s running for Congress again. But this time, Aiken, who has referred to himself as a “loud and proud Democrat”, […]

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Republican senator rings in the new year with two bills attacking trans kids

An Arizona lawmaker is ringing in the new year by introducing two new bills targeting trans youth in the state. Republican senator Wendy Rogers proposed Senate Bill 1045 (SB 1045) to prohibit gender-affirming surgeries on trans youth. The proposed law would also ban medical staff in Arizona from prescribing, dispensing, administering or supplying hormone treatments to trans people who are under 18. Any healthcare professional who violates the law would be guilty of a Class 4 felony, which carries a one to three-year prison sentence, AZ Mirror reports. SB 1045 would also compel any “nurse, counsellor, teacher, principal” or any other “public or private […]

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Switzerland to allow trans people to legally change gender through self-ID

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Trans people in Switzerland will be able to legally change their gender by self-ID at a civil registry office from the start of the new year. Switzerland joins a growing number of European countries that allow a person to legally change their gender and name through self-declaration. It follows Denmark, Norway, Malta, Luxembourg, Ireland, Iceland and Portugal, according to international trans advocacy group TGEU. Under the new law, which will go into effect on Saturday (1 January), anyone over the age of 16 and not under legal guardianship will be able to change their gender marker and legal name by self-declaration at […]

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Out Brazilian Olympic diver Ian Matos dies aged 32

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Openly gay Brazilian Olympic diver Ian Matos died aged 32 following a severe infection that left him hospitalised. Matos had been in hospital for two months before his condition worsened on Wednesday (22 December), the Sun reported. He had initially sought treatment because of an infection in his throat which later spread to his stomach and lungs. He had won three bronze medals in the 2010 South American Games. He placed eighth in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where he competed in the men’s synchronised three-metre springboard alongside his diving partner Luiz Outerelo. Brazil’s Olympic Committee said in a statement […]

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Brothers detained in Chechnya go on hunger strike

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Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev, gay brothers detained in Chechnya, have begun a hunger strike after a judge denied a request to move their case to another region. The brothers fled to Russia in June 2020 with the help of the Russian LGBT Network after they were tortured in Chechnya, the site of deadly so-called “gay purges”, for running an opposition Telegram channel. ragically, the two men were forcefully returned to Chechnya in February 2021 on terrorism-related charges that activists say are completely fabricated. Magamadov and Isaev face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. The Russian LGBT Network said in a […]

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School’s Gay Straight Alliance wins legal battle after principal banned it from advertising

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Members of an Indiana high school’s LGBT+ club have won their legal battle after they were banned from raising money and promoting meetings. A district judge issued a preliminary injunction in favour of the Pendleton Heights High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) on Wednesday (22 December) after the principal barred the group from advertising on campus and raising funds for the club. The lawsuit – filed by the ACLU of Indiana in September on behalf of the GSA – alleged the school violated the students’ First Amendment rights and equal protection rights. The high school’s principal claimed the GSA wasn’t an “official” club and banned […]

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South Africa’s trans community hit by ‘serious’ shortage of ‘life-saving’ testosterone

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South Africa’s trans and non-binary community is facing a worrying shortage of testosterone, leaving many at serious risk. The shortage is down to manufacturer Pfizer restricting its production of its Depo-Testosterone, a prescription hormone replacement therapy that helps many transmasc people, in favour of producing COVID-19 vaccines. Dr Anastacia Tomson told IOL that the current shortage is “serious” as the “communication from the company anticipates stock to be restored only in or after the second quarter of 2022”. As such, Dr Tomson warned that many trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming patients could be without the “essential and often life-saving” treatment potentially for months. She added that […]

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All EU nations must recognize children of same-sex parents

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The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that Bulgaria must issue identity papers to the child of a same-sex couple. The European Union’s (EU) top court has ruled that Bulgaria must issue identity papers to a child of same-sex parents, and that all EU nations must respect such families. The ruling came after authorities in Bulgaria refused to issue a birth certificate for a child, named Sara, who was born in 2019 to a married same-sex couple: Bulgarian born Kalina Ivanova and Gibraltar-born Jane Jones (not their real names). Sara was born in Spain, but she couldn’t be considered […]

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