The Advocate

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Half of U.S. trans teens live in a state that restricts their rights: study

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More than half of U.S. transgender youth aged 13-17 live in a state with at least one law restricting their rights, according to a new study from the Williams Institute, a research organization at the University of California, Los Angeles,School of Law. The study, titled “The Impact of 2025 Anti-Transgender Legislation on Youth,” looks at laws enacted in 2025 and previously. An estimated 724,000 Americans in this age group identify as transgender, the institute notes. Of these, 382,800, 53 percent, live in one of the 29 states that has enacted one or more laws banning access to gender-affirming care, participation in sports, use of bathrooms and other sex-separated facilities, or gender […]

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Trump admin is trying to deport LGBTQ+ asylum-seekers to countries where they’d be killed, lawyers say

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The Trump administration is quietly advancing immigration policies that attorneys and LGBTQ+ advocates say could send asylum seekers to their deaths, including by transferring queer and transgender people to countries such as Uganda and Iran, where same-sex relationships and gender nonconformity are criminalized and can be punished by imprisonment, torture, or execution. Sign me up! See what’s new and hot in queer entertainment, in your inbox three times a week. Through third-country transfer agreements and aggressive deportation tactics, the administration is placing LGBTQ+ asylum seekers, many with what lawyers describe as strong, well-documented claims, at risk. Advocates tell The Advocate the policies mark a dangerous shift away from the United […]

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Don Lemon defiant in first remarks after arrest and release from federal custody

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Journalist Don Lemon walked toward the microphones Friday afternoon with his husband, Tim Malone, by his side, the two holding hands as Lemon prepared to address reporters outside a federal courthouse in Los Angeles. Speaking around 3:30 p.m. Pacific, Lemon thanked supporters and described his arrest as a defining moment for press freedom. A federal judge released him without bail. “I have spent my entire career covering the news,” Lemon said. “I will not stop now. There is no more important time than right now, this very moment, for a free and independent media that shines a light on the truth and holds […]

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Florida seeks to expand gender-affirming care ban; could criminalize pharmacists and counselors

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Florida legislators have introduced bills that would expand the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, including felony charges for any health care provider who “aids or abets” such procedures. LGBTQ+ activists and parents warn that this provision is dangerously vague and would penalize counselors who discuss gender issues with young people or pharmacists who fill prescriptions — something that sponsors of the bills have confirmed, to a degree. House Bill 743 and Senate Bill 1010 would also authorize the attorney general to investigate and sue health care professionals who violate the law restricting gender-affirming care. Both were voted out of committee this week. The law, enacted in 2023, already […]

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EEOC rescinds LGBTQ-inclusive guidance on workplace harassment

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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has rescinded LGBTQ-inclusive guidance about what workplace harassment looks like and how to fight it, enraging community activists and allies. The commission, which enforces federal antidiscrimination laws and can take employers to court, voted 2-1 Thursday to withdraw the document, which was approved in 2024, when Joe Biden was president, multiple media outlets report. It took up nearly 200 pages and included more than 70 examples of on-the-job harassment. “While much of that guidance wasn’t new, one addition that rankled many conservatives was a section on gender identity and sexual orientation,” NPRreports. That was added to be in keeping with […]

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Trump administration is potentially sending two gay men to their death by preparing to deport them to Iran

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Two gay Iranian men who fled their home country after being arrested for “homosexual conduct” and facing possible execution are at risk of being deported by the United States as early as Sunday, according to their attorney, even as one federal court has intervened to temporarily block one of the removals. Advocates warn that the case exposes a deeper collapse of asylum protections. The men, romantic partners in their late 30s and early 40s, were arrested in Iran in 2021 by the country’s morality police for what authorities described as homosexual activity — a charge that can carry punishments ranging from flogging […]

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Military ban on HIV-positive enlistees could set dangerous precedent, experts warn

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The Trump administration’s fight to prevent HIV-positive people from enlisting in the military will soon be settled, but not before upending the lives of those who want nothing more than to serve.  The Department of Defense has ordered officials not to train new recruits who are HIV-positive, according to guidance sent by the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command and obtained by CNN. The order, sent January 16, states “we are pausing shipping any HIV+ applicants and will follow-up in the coming weeks,” pending a ruling from an appeals court.  “As someone who was illegally kicked out of the Peace Corps for testing positive for […]

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As LGBTQ+ people go back into the closet under Trump, the Human Rights Campaign reveals plan to fight back

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In Washington, D.C., just blocks from the White House, where President Donald Trump is directing what civil rights advocates describe as an accelerating authoritarian overhaul of federal power, the Human Rights Campaign on Thursday released a new political playbook and a stark assessment of what the first year of Trump’s second term has meant for LGBTQ+ Americans. The organization’s twin reports, One Year Out: LGBTQ+ Messaging Playbook for the Midterms and One Year In: LGBTQ+ Americans Under the Trump Administration, sketch both a campaign strategy and a warning flare. Together, they argue that LGBTQ+ Americans are becoming less visible, less safe, and less secure as federal protections shrink and culture war policies […]

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LGBTQ+ Americans are going back in the closet under Donald Trump: report

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LGBTQ+ people are going back into the closet during Donald Trump‘s second term as queer visibility decreases across the board, new research has found.  Nearly half of LGBTQ+ adults (47.5 percent) report being less out somewhere in their lives over the last 12 months, according to the Annual LGBTQ+ Community Survey from the Human Rights Campaign, including workplaces (26.5 percent), healthcare (25.4 percent), and public spaces (28.3 percent).  Over half of LGBTQ+ workers (57.4 percent) with employers that ended or scaled back diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) reported experiencing stigma and bias at work. This stigma appears to be increasing in all areas, as 51.1 percent […]

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Abigail Spanberger becomes VA’s first woman governor, honoring history and diversity in inaugural speech

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On a cold, gray, and drizzly morning in Richmond, thousands of Virginiansgathered on the steps of the state capitol to witness a moment more than two centuries in the making: the inauguration of Abigail Spanberger as Virginia’s 75th governor and the first woman ever elected to the office. Shortly before noon, Spanberger arrived at the Virginia State Capitol in a motorcade, pulling in behind the building, out of view of the crowds that had gathered in Capitol Square. Joined by her husband, the Democrat wore a brilliant blue-purple pantsuit. Most supporters never saw her arrival. Moments later, she emerged onto the dais to sustained applause, […]

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