Ryan Adamczeski

LGBTQ+ youth in the United States already had poor mental health — but it’s only gotten worse in the past two years. Mental health crises among LGBTQ+ youth have recently risen significantly, according to a new report from The Trevor Project, with anxiety symptoms climbing from 57 percent to 68 percent, depressive symptoms increasing from 48 percent to 54 percent, and suicidal ideation growing from 41 percent to 47 percent. While past-year suicide attempts declined from 11 percent to 7 percent, the rate remains higher than national estimates for cisgender heterosexual youth. “While many of the findings in this study are devastating, they […]

A couple in Massachusetts has lost their license to foster after refusing to sign a policy agreeing not to discriminate against LGBTQ+ youth nor attempt to change their gender identity or sexual orientation. The state’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) revoked the license of Lydia and Heath Marvin in April after they refused to sign the nondiscrimination policy that would protect youth in their care. The couple, who has three biological children in their teens, had fostered eight children under the age of four since 2020. “We will absolutely love and support and care for any child in our home but we simply […]

A former library director in Wyoming has won $700,000 in a settlement after she was fired for refusing to remove books containing content about sexual health and LGBTQ+ identities.  Terri Lesley, director of Campbell County Public Library, was removed from her position in July, 2023 after 27 years of service when the Campbell County library board voted four to one to fire her. The board had pushed for two years to convince Lesley to remove the collection of books, which some had claimed were inappropriate for minors. Under the settlement, Lesley has agreed to drop her lawsuit against the state, though a separate […]

 Costa Rica‘s first out transgender elected official, Gerhard Phillip Hernández Padilla, is more than just a historic politician — he’s a member of Gen Z who loves Coldplay, art history, and tattoos.  The 25-year-old trans man was elected in February last year as second vice mayor of Moravia, a smaller municipality in the San José province in central Costa Rica with a population of more than 50,000. He will serve the district until the end of his four-year term in 2028, after which he plans to continue his career in politics. “What I would like to do in politics is bring in opportunities […]

Your love isn’t one in a million — more like one in a thousand.  There are 1,168,566 same-sex couples living together in the United States, according to a snapshot of the 2020 census by the Williams Institute, 57 percent of whom are married and 22 percent of whom are raising their own children. Among the couples, 52.4 percent are female and 47.7 percent are male.  California has the largest overall population of any state, so it also has the most same-sex couples (162,914). However, California’s same-sex couples make up a relatively smaller portion of the state’s total population than others (12.09 for every […]

Clarence Thomas has said that U.S. Supreme Court precedent isn’t “the gospel” and that it can be overturned as the court weighs whether or not to revisit marriage equality. The conservative Justice said during a recent appearance at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C. that he would not follow court precedent “if I find it doesn’t make any sense.” “I think we should demand that, no matter what the case is, that it has more than just a simple theoretical basis,” Thomas said, via legal news outlet Above the Law. “[If it’s] totally stupid, and that’s what they’ve decided, you don’t go […]

Phoenix police have detained a man accused of threatening to shoot people at a local LGBTQ+ bar as revenge for Charlie Kirk‘s death. Treven Michael Gokey, 49, was arrested Wednesday on two felony counts of making a terroristic threat and using a computer to threaten, according to the police report via AZ Family, and is currently being held in the Maricopa County jail on a $250,000 bond. Officers said that Gokey threatened a shooting at Cruisin’ 7th, allegedly telling them that “Charlie Kirk was a martyr” and he ”was a martyr for Charlie Kirk.” Gokey reportedly told police during a a welfare check […]