The Advocate

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These 14 corporations have stopped or scaled back sponsorship of LGBTQ+ Pride events

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When corporations got rid of their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, many also axed their commitments to LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Even before Donald Trump’s executive orders terminating all DEI positions in the federal government, dozens of major companies had already abandoned their practices. Many made their decisions after conservatives online specifically targeted them for their policies and threatened boycotts, with failed filmmaker turned failed congressional candidate Robby Starbuck taking credit for spearheading the movement. This withdrawal didn’t just encompass inclusive work environments and hiring practices, or participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index — in abandoning DEI, companies also ceased many of their community partnerships. This included small businesses, […]

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Medicare, Medicaid agency demands info on gender-affirming care for trans youth

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, headed by Mehmet Oz, has sent a letter to some hospitals demanding information on their provision of gender-affirming care to transgender youth. The CMS, like all of Donald Trump’s administration, is opposed to this care, falsely claiming it is experimental and is not supported by evidence. The letter, dated Wednesday, expresses “urgent concerns with both the quality standards adherence and profits related to these harmful procedures,” says a CMS press release. The release quotes Oz as saying, “These are irreversible, high-risk procedures being conducted on vulnerable children, often at taxpayer expense. Hospitals accepting federal funds are expected to meet rigorous quality […]

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D.C. police investigate suspected hate crime at bar for queer & trans people of color during WorldPride

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In the early hours of Black Pride weekend in Washington, D.C., someone shattered the front door of Sinners and Saints, cut the power, stole bottles of alcohol, and spray-painted the slur “fa***t” on the wall. The bar’s mission is in its name: defiance and sanctuary. It’s D.C.’s only venue created by and for queer and trans people of color. And on Friday, as revelers began arriving in the city for WorldPride, someone tried to send a message of fear. Instead, the response was community and clarity. “We are heartbroken, but we are not broken,” the bar’s team posted on Instagram. “Sinners and Saints is resistance. We will rebuild. […]

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Why experts say Trump’s budget bill strips health care from nearly all transgender people

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The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a sweeping Republican-led budget reconciliation package — dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill” by President Donald Trump and the bill’s proponents — that, if enacted, would decimate access to gender-affirming care for transgender people of all ages across the country. More than a tax bill, the legislation, passed 215-214 in the early morning hours Thursday, couples tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy with profound structural changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, including provisions that would strip transgender people of access to transition-related care — even when privately insured. It’s a vision of health policy that experts told The Advocate weaponizes bureaucracy and budgetary authority to target one […]

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Democrat Adam Schiff to be the first U.S. senator to participate in California’s AIDS/LifeCycle bike ride

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Democratic U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff will participate in the upcoming AIDS/LifeCycle 2025 ride in California, making him the first U.S. senator to take part in the seven-day fundraising bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  Organizers of the annual ride, which first started in 2002, earlier announced that 2025 would be the final year of the fundraiser due to rising costs and declining participation. “You may not know this, but I was the first member of Congress to participate in the ride back in 2014, and now, I’m going to be the first U.S. senator to do the ride in early […]

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Trans Americans consider moves to safer states because of Trump election: Williams Institute

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With many states and the federal government adopting anti-transgenderpolicies, nearly half of the trans people in a Williams Institute survey have moved to a more welcoming state or are considering such a move. The institute, located at the School of Law at the University of California, Los Angeles, surveyed 302 trans, nonbinary, and other gender-diverse American adults in December to gauge the effect of Donald Trump’s election on them. They are referred to under the umbrella term “transgender” in the report. Respondents could remain anonymous. More than a third were people of color, and more than 40 percent had an annual income under $50,000.  Forty-eight percent […]

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Federal judge in Texas rules LGBTQ+ people can be discriminated against at work

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On Thursday, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk—a far-right federal judge in the Northern District of Texas with a record of aligning with the GOP’s most extreme legal positions—issued a ruling declaring that Title VII no longer protects LGBTQ+ people from workplace discrimination. The decision directly contradicts the Supreme Court’s landmark 2020 ruling inBostock v. Clayton County, which held that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is, by definition, sex discrimination. Kacsmaryk’s ruling marks one of the most alarming judicial rollbacks of LGBTQ+ rights in recent memory—and sets up a direct legal challenge to one of the foundational civil rights protections for queer and trans people […]

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It’s the second time Lori Franchina has challenged – and beaten – her former employer

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A lesbian and retired Rhode Island firefighter was awarded nearly $2 million in damages in a lawsuit involving her accidental disability pension, which could balloon to $5 million after interest, local NBC affiliate WJAR reported last month.  Lori Franchina previously won over $800,000 in a separate lawsuit detailing the anti-LGBTQ+ abuse she suffered while working with her fellow firefighters. Franchina joined the Providence Fire Department in 2002. She retired on disability in 2013 after she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder due to the habitual anti-LGBTQ+ abuse she endured on the job. She filed for accidental disability in 2011, but was denied by the retirement board. […]

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LGBTQ+ festival fights back after Trump’s cuts National Endowment for the Arts funding

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A festival featuring the works of playwrights from countries where LGBTQ+ rights are suppressed is turning to fundraising after President Donald Trump’s National Endowment for the Arts cut its grant to the group. The National Queer Theater said they have created a GoFundMe page where the community can support the Criminal Queerness Festival taking place during NYC Pride 2025, NBC Newsreports. The Criminal Queerness Festival takes place at the HERE Art Center in NYC on June 11-28. According to its website, the festival “showcases the works of international LGBTQ+ playwrights from countries where queer identities are criminalized or censored.” This year’s festival features plays reflecting queer […]

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How to fight Trump’s anti-trans messaging that’s poisoning public opinion

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As President Donald Trump intensifies his second-term campaign to roll back LGBTQ+ rights, new polling suggests that his relentless attacks on transgenderpeople are gaining traction with the public, despite broad disapproval of his presidency overall. LGBTQ+ advocates say this slide requires accurate media representation of trans lives Public opinion is shifting to restriction According to a national survey released Saturday by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, a majority of Americans—68 percent—now say gender is determined by sex assigned at birth. Two-thirds oppose public insurance programs like Medicare or Medicaid covering gender-affirming carefor minors. And nearly half of the respondents support banning such care for trans […]

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