Mathew Rodriguez

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Gay Mainer Jordan Wood announces bid to replace Graham Platner in Senate race

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Out gay politician Jordan Wood has thrown his hat into the ring to replace Graham Platner, the Maine Democrat who was set to face off against longtime GOP senator Susan Collins in November. Wood announced his intentions after Platner dropped out of the race on Wednesday following allegations of sexual assault against him from a previous girlfriend.  Wood announced his intentions on Thursday morning via social media.  Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “It’s official: I’m running to defeat Susan Collins. Not with corporate PAC money. Not […]

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Missing gay couple from Chicago found dead in mass grave outside of Mexico City

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A gay couple from Chicago who were living in Mexico City have been found dead in a grave that included two other bodies, per Chicago ABC affiliate WLS. Zafar Padamsee Mawani and Guillermo Jaffet Hidalgo Ortiz had been missing since May, per WLS. The couple had only recently moved to Mexico in October and were living in a neighborhood in the southern part of Mexico City. The bodies were found on June 17 in a wooded area on the outskirts of Mexico City, per People. The couple went missing on May 20 while trying to get equipment from a contractor for Mawani’s […]

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Nearly 40 years later, Minneapolis repeals bathhouse ban

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Following a 9-2 vote, the Minneapolis City Council voted Thursday to repeal the city’s longstanding ban on adult bathhouses, a nearly 40-year prohibition that dates back to the earliest days of the AIDS crisis, per MPR News. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The last bathhouse in operation in Minneapolis closed in 1988 during the height of the AIDS crisis, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Jason Chavez, the only out LGBTQ+ member of the council, co-authored the two ordinances required to repeal the ban and, during his remarks, […]

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New poll shows support for LGBTQ+ rights continues to drop in the U.S.

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Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. Acceptance of LGBTQ+ people across the board has backslid since its peak in the 2010s, according to new dataset from Gallup. That includes lower acceptance for same-sex marriage, fewer people believing queer relationships and gender transition are moral.  After a steady increase over decades, from 27% in 1996 to 71% in 2022, the percentage of Americans who supports same-sex marriage has continued its downward turn. It now stands at 65%, after showing a marginal decline every year since 2022. […]

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Community grieves Juniper Blessing, trans student with ‘heart of gold’ who loved meteorology and Pokémon

Students at the University of Washington are in mourning after the identity of the 19-year-old trans student stabbed and killed on Sunday became public. Her name was Juniper Blessing. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. Blessing, a major of the Department of Atmospheric and Climate Science, was the “most amazing human being we have ever known,” her family wrote in a statement. According to friends who have posted on social media, she enjoyedplaying video games like Hollow Night, studying meteoreology, buying jewelry and perfume, and singing with a […]

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Trump’s new Navy secretary seems very afraid of witches and drag queens

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Trump’s newly appointed Navy Secretary is raising eyebrows over his concerns that witches in California could spell double double toil and trouble. Hung Cao, a failed Republican candidate — who ran to represent Virginia in the House in 2022 and in the Senate in 2024, and lost both times — has been named as the new acting Secretary of the Navy, the 10th person to hold that title across Trump’s five years as president, per MS NOW. Cao has filled in the position for John Phelan, who was abruptly fired on Wednesday. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with […]