Quispe López

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In Ron DeSantis’s Florida, voters just elected the state’s first out transgender woman

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Quinnie Pérez made history Tuesday night, becoming the first out transgenderwoman elected to public office in Florida after winning Seat 1 on the Orange County Soil and Water Conservation District board. Pérez will join the district’s nonpartisan, volunteer board in January. The board helps promote conservation and the responsible management of local soil and water resources. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Pérez grew up in North Florida surrounded by agriculture and family traditions, according to the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, which identified her candidacy as […]

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Allison Montgomery wins race to become Alabama’s first transgender state lawmaker

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In a historic win, Democrat Allison Montgomery defeated Republican incumbent State Rep. Phillip Rigsby for a seat representing Alabama’s House District 25 on Tuesday night, becoming the state’s first transgender legislator. According to the Associated Press, which called the race, Montgomery leads Rigsby 53 to 47 percent with over 95 percent of the estimated vote counted. Montgomery is one of three Northern Alabama seats flipped in Tuesday night’s blue wave, per local state publication AL.com. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. A software engineer, Montgomery ran on a platform that prioritized affordability […]

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Vermont voters deliver LGBTQ+ rights victory with constitutional protections

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Vermont voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday explicitly protecting LGBTQ+ people against discrimination, delivering a victory for civil rights advocates seeking stronger state safeguards against unequal treatment. The Associated Press called the result just after 11 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday. Proposal 4 adds explicit equal protection guarantees covering sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, along with race, ethnicity, sex, religion, disability and national origin. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The amendment builds on Vermont’s existing constitutional principles of equality by spelling out protections […]

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For LGBTQ+ youth, vaping is becoming a dangerous coping mechanism

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It’s long been known that the bullying LGBTQ+ people face in their youth can have lifelong health ramifications, but a new study is finding this type of social rejection may have a particularly impactful effect on vaping rates. Previous research has shown that LGBTQ+ people tend to vape at disproportionately high rates compared to their straight and cisgender peers, with 22% of gay men and lesbians and 18% of bisexuals vaping, compared to 15% of straight people. But according to a new study published in the journal of Prevention Science, LGBTQ+ youth may exhibit high rates of e-cigarette and vape usage because of […]

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A First Nation is making itself a safe haven from Alberta’s trans youth care ban

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The Saddle Lake Cree Nation is standing up against the Canadian Province of Alberta’s gender-affirming care ban by positioning itself as a safe haven for transgender people seeking medical care.  In December 2024, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and other members of the United Conservative Party passed a law that bars medical providers in the Canadian province from prescribing gender-affirming care like puberty blockers and hormone therapy to trans youth under age 16. Smith previously stated that the ban’s goal is to “preserve [the] fertility” of young people, despite longstanding scientific research that puberty blockers do not render a person infertile, and studies demonstrating repeatedly that gender-affirming care saves lives. Stay up to date […]

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BOYCOTT: Lilly Wachowski says ‘If you support Harry Potter, you’re supporting trans genocide’

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Lilly Wachowski, acclaimed co-director of films including The Matrix, Bound, andV For Vendetta, said in a new interview that supporting the Harry Potter franchise is akin to supporting genocide against transgender people. In an interview with Variety published today, Wachowski was asked about her thoughts on the controversy surrounding HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series set to premiere in December. The project has been met with significant LGBTQ+ backlash, especially given author J.K. Rowling’s involvement as executive producer and the author’s long history of anti-trans organizing.  Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “She is funding trans genocide. J.K. […]

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What queer people should know about the ‘diarrhea parasite’ ruining our summer salads

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Big gay salads are the spice of life when it comes to summer living, but queer people can’t have anything under this administration — not even fresh produce and a sense of unadulterated whimsy at the farmers market. It’s no secret that the Trump administration’s defunding of institutions that previously kept us healthy, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), has had widespread consequences, now including a parasite that loves to live on fresh produce and causes watery diarrhea. If you’re looking at that bag of salad mix sitting in your fridge a little more suspiciously, […]

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In a viral post, transgender author alleges anti-LGBTQ+ senator Lindsey Graham hired her for sex work

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After longtime U.S. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham died on Saturday night, reportedly from aortic dissection, the reaction from the LGBTQ+ community was immediate. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The South Carolina Republican had served in the U.S. Senate since 2003, spending his final years as a loyalist to President Donald Trump despite having run against him in the 2016 Republican primary. Throughout his tenure, Graham was a staunch opponent to the advancement of LGBTQ+ civil rights, opposing marriage equality; advocating against the 2011 repeal of “Don’t […]

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Daughters of the American Revolution live up to their name by rejecting ban on trans women

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The Daughters of the American Revolution officially rejected a proposed ban on transgender women from joining the organization on June 26. The long-awaited vote came after years of pressure within the DAR — a nonprofit historical preservation and education society created in 1890, composed of women with direct ancestry to soldiers in the American Revolutionary War — to exclude trans women from the organization’s definition of “woman,” which would effectively ban them from its ranks. In 2023, the DAR officially amended their guidelines to include language that protects trans members against discrimination in the application process, per The Washingtonian. “Some have asked if […]

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Ringleader in torture and killing of trans man Sam Nordquist pleads guilty

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Precious Arzuaga, a 38-year-old woman whom prosecutors say acted as the “ringleader” in the torture and violent murder of Sam Nordquist, a 24-year-old Black transgender man, pleaded guilty to all charges against her today, including first-degree murder, kidnapping, and aggravated sexual abuse. In September 28, 2024, Nordquist traveled from his home state of Minnesota to Ontario County in upstate New York, where he planned to meet his online girlfriend Arzuaga, and return two weeks later. Linda Nordquist said her son never returned as planned. Instead, investigators say Nordquist was subjected to months of “depraved” torture by Arzuaga, her son, and a network of […]

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