The Advocate

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Mike Johnson swore Everton Blair in as the South’s first Black gay congressman

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Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson stood beside Everton Blair Jr. on the House floor Tuesday and swore the Georgia Democrat into Congress, formally making Blair the first out gay Black person from the South to serve in the chamber. The oath was routine. The pairing was anything but. For Johnson, it was an official duty of the speakership. For Blair, it was the culmination of a political ascent built around education, generational change, and the argument that representation is more than symbolism. The moment also produced an unavoidable contrast: One of the country’s most prominent opponents of LGBTQ+ equality was welcoming a Black gay lawmaker into an institution that, for most […]

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Renowned NYC medical center caves to Trump on trans youth care just as DOJ loses in court

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Mount Sinai Health System has agreed to stop providing gender-affirming medical care to minors under a settlement with the Trump administration, making one of New York’s largest hospital systems the latest provider to retreat as federal officials use investigations, subpoenas, and funding pressure to reshape transgender people’s access to health care nationwide. The Justice Department announced Friday that Mount Sinai will cease providing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and other transition-related care to minors. The hospital will also pay an unspecified monetary penjalty and dedicate $2 million to free medical care for people who say they suffered harmful consequences from gender-affirming treatment received as children. DOJ acknowledged that its […]

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Trump DOJ tried to force California to ban trans girls from sports. A judge said no

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Earlier this week, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Justice Department challenging California’s trans-inclusive school sports policies, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times. While the ruling does not establish a statewide right for transgender athletes to compete on teams consistent with their gender identity, it rejects the DOJ’s claim that California’s policies violate Title IX. Title IX is a 1972 federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal funding. In its suit, the Justice Department alleged that California’s Department of Education and the California Interscholastic Federation violated the law by allowing transgender student athletes to […]

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Four suspects beat California man while shouting anti-LGBTQ+ slurs, police say

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Police in California are investigating the assault of two men in Sacramento’s Lavender Heights district. One victim said four men beat him while shouting anti-LGBTQ+ and racist slurs. Joseph Sais said the beating that left him bloodied on the street was especially painful because it happened in an LGBTQ-friendly area of town. “How can this happen here?” Sais told news station KCRA. “How can this happen in a space where it’s for us? It’s for queer individuals to come feel supported.” Sacramento police told news outlets they received reports of an assault around 1 a.m. Last Sunday near 20th and […]

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Former CIA officers warn Trump’s administration is reviving the Lavender Scare, endangering national security

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Three former CIA officers are warning that President Donald Trump’s campaign against diversity initiatives and transgender federal employees threatens to recreate one of the darkest periods in the history of the nation’s intelligence agencies. In a historical account published Thursday by Lawfare, Trace Ballard, Julia Curlee, and Todd Johannessen trace the CIA’s transformation from an agency that hunted and expelled gay employees to one that openly recruited LGBTQ+officers and then began dismantling that infrastructure after Trump returned to office. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The authors bring roughly eight decades […]

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Trans band teacher accepted an Iowa school job offer. Days before classes, the board blocked his hiring

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A transgender music teacher in Iowa says a school board blocked his hiring days before the school year began. Ace Rios told Omaha CBS affiliate KMTV that he had accepted an offer to teach music at a high school in Tabor, Iowa. But the Fremont-Mills Community School Board deadlocked 2-2 on approving his contract. One board member was absent, and under board rules, the tie meant the motion failed. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. An agenda shows Rios’ name among eight new hires considered by the board on August 19. The […]

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179 lawmakers tell SCOTUS not to let taxpayer money-accepting religious preschools reject LGBTQ+ families

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The Congressional Equality Caucus said Monday that 179 members of Congress, including 13 senators, had signed a brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve Colorado’s power to prevent publicly funded preschools from denying admission to children because they or their parents are LGBTQ+. The brief in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy is led by U.S. Rep. Mark Takano of California, the caucus chair, with Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsinand Jeff Merkley of Oregon. Its signers include Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, Pete Aguilar, Nancy Pelosi, and every Equality Caucus co-chair. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “In […]

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South Florida husbands among Americans killed in Kenya helicopter crash

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A married gay couple from South Florida were among seven people killed Wednesday when a helicopter carrying tourists crashed in northern Kenya. Adam Hlavaty, 42, and Henry Parra, 55, lived in Coral Gables and married in 2017 at the city’s historic Biltmore Hotel. Friends remembered them as generous community members who built a life around family, travel, and service. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “They were a loving couple who cherished their time together, especially traveling, making memories, and enjoying life with their family and […]

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Meet 3 transgender student-athletes fighting for the right to play

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Despite ever-growing food and fuel prices, an ailing health care system, and violent conflicts in the U.S. and abroad, the far right has decided to continue to wage war on transgender student-athletes. And while politicians debate the topic within our nation’s highest offices, many forget about the real human beings who are affected. Becky Pepper-Jackson When West Virginia House Bill 3293, also known as the Save Women’s Sports Act, became law in 2021, Becky Pepper-Jackson, a track-and-field athlete who identifies as trans, and her family challenged the bill in court. Since then, the battle over whether schools should allow trans student athletes […]

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Gay New Jersey detective says supervisor groped him — and bosses did nothing

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A gay detective said supervisors in the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office failed to act after a supervisor allegedly groped him at work. Detective Russell Kingsland of the Division of Criminal Justice is seeking $1.5 million in a lawsuit alleging he suffered years of workplace harassment, including pressure from supervisors to come out to his colleagues and family, according to NJ.com. He also accused one of those supervisors of sexually assaulting him at work. Kingsland said in his claim that the supervisor came up behind him, pressed his body against him at a Trenton justice complex, moved his hand toward Kingsland’s crotch and asked, “Are […]

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