Ryan Adamczeski

A Kansas City firefighter was the victim of harassment from her coworkers for over two decades. Now, she’s finally getting her deserved compensation.  The City Council’s finance committee recommended without comment Tuesday that Rebecca Reynolds receive a $1.3 million settlement in response to over 21 years of mistreatment and abuse from her male coworkers and superiors. The council approved the settlement Thursday, making it the largest discrimination payout in city fire department history. Reynolds claimed in two lawsuits that she endured decades of abuse from her male coworkers, who often targeted her for being a lesbian and for her age. Reynolds, who graduated from the fire […]

Pride Month may be over, but there’s still a lot of victories for the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate.  Out of the over 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in 2023, only 80 were passed into law, documented by organizations like the Trevor Project and the American Civil Liberties Union. Just halfway through 2024, just 41 of the 527 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced have passed into law.  While those numbers may still seem daunting, it’s important to note the low success rate of legislators attempting to pass these laws — or rather, the high success rate of the queer activists working to block them. Furthermore, there are several states […]

Michigan has officially banned the “LGBTQ+ panic” defense following Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer‘s signature on the historic piece of legislation.  HB 4718 prohibits using the “sexual orientation or gender identity of a victim as a defense to a crime.” The bill recently passed the state House of Representatives in a narrow 56 to 54 vote, making it through the state Senate by a larger margin of 24 to 14, with two Republican joining Democrats in support. Whitmer signed the bill into law Tuesday, saying: “No one should fear violence because of their sexuality or gender identity.”  “Since I took office, we expanded the Elliott-Larsen Civil […]

LGBTQ+ people have a significantly lower rate of homeownership than their straight and cisgender peers, and U.S. lawmakers are demanding to know why. Several members of the House of Representatives have sent a letter, exclusively shared with The Advocate, to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau inquiring about the “disparities” in homeownership and the lack of data surrounding LGBTQ+ households. The group asked Director Rohit Chopra to create a Data Action Plan involving sexual orientation and gender identity minorities and to investigate queer consumers’ complaints about home-buying services.  The lawmakers also called for the CFPB to “do so in alignment with best practices and rigorous research […]

LGBTQ+ students don’t feel safe in their schools because of bullying and discrimination, some of which is coming from the staff meant to protect them. Among queer Gen Z youth ages 16 to 27, 52 percent have experienced bullying because of their sexual orientation, with 13 percent reporting that they were bullied by teachers or administrative staff, according to a new survey from global children’s charity Theirworld. Of those who were bullied, 36 percent said that they did not report it, and of those who did report it, half said that staff and teachers responded poorly. Because of this, 49 percent said that they do not feel accepted […]