The Advocate

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Transgender 17-year-old Tayy Dior Thomas shot to death in Alabama

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Tayy Dior Thomas, a 17-year-old transgender girl, was shot to death May 7 in Mobile, Ala., and the suspect is a man who her family says she had been dating. Police found her body about 3:30 a.m. in the front yard of a home after responding to a report of shots fired in the area, according to TV station WALA.A vehicle had crashed into the house as well. Police arrested Carl Washington Jr., 20. He is charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty this week and was denied bond. Most news reports, including the WALA one, misgendered and deadnamed Thomas, but her family […]

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Florida won’t light bridges in rainbow colors for Pride Month this year

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Florida’s major bridges won’t be lit up for Pride Month this year. Instead, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants the Sunshine Skyway lit up in red, white and blue. Florida Transportation Secretary James Perdue recently announced on social media that as part of the state’s “Freedom Summer,” all bridges will be lit in patriotic colors from May 27 to Sept. 2. “As Floridians prepare for Freedom Summer, Florida’s bridges will follow suit, illuminating in red, white, and blue from Memorial Day through Labor Day!” he wrote. “Thanks to the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida continues to be the freest state in the […]

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Human Rights Campaign to spend $15 million to support Joe Biden’s reelection campaign in key swing states

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The Human Rights Campaign announced Monday the launch of a $15 million public education and engagement drive to mobilize a record-high 75 million identified “equality voters” ahead of the November elections. The mobilization, titled “We Show Up: Equality Wins,” hopes to combat anti-trans attacks and secure significant electoral victories among Democrats, including the re-election of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. HRC plans to reach voters through field programs, events, and advertising buys in six key battleground states: Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Nevada. According to HRC, the number of identified equality voters has grown from 62 million in 2022 to 75 million this year. Equality voters are described as a […]

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An attacker fired a pellet gun at 4 LGBTQ+ bars in San Diego. The community wants answers

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An attacker targeted at least four LGBTQ+ bars with a pellet gun over the weekend, sparking fear and outrage among the San Diego community.  The assailant fired the pellet gun from a vehicle around 1 a.m. Saturday morning, San Diego Police told CBS 8, targeting four queer establishments in the southern California city: Rich’s, The Rail, #1 on Fifth Avenue, and PECS.  A security guard at The Rail, Donny Hurry, told the outlet that he was outside when someone began shooting from their vehicle. He realized the weapon was not a real gun after he was hit in the arms and back several times, and […]

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Democrats introduce bill to aid older LGBTQ+ Americans in rural areas

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Two out U.S. representatives and an ally have introduced a bill aimed at improving services for older LGBTQ+ adults living in rural areas. Seniors who are LGBTQ+ or living with HIV and live in rural communities often face barriers to support and resources because of geography, costs, insufficient broadband infrastructure, lack of specialized providers, or stigma, notes a press release from Reps. Mark Pocan, Sharice Davids, and Suzanne Bonamici, all Democrats. Their Elder Pride Act would update the Older Americans Act and provide funding to help rural Area Agencies on Aging offer specific services for these populations. The act would establish a grant […]

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From Meta to X, most major social media companies are failing LGBTQ+ users: GLAAD

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GLAAD has released its 2024 Social Media Safety Index report, revealing what it says are significant failures by social media platforms to protect LGBTQ+ users from hate speech and harassment. According to the report, most major platforms continue receiving failing grades for handling LGBTQ+ safety. TikTok was the only platform to improve, moving from an F to a D+. Keep up with the latest in LGBTQ+ news and politics. Sign up for The Advocate’s email newsletter. The report paints a grim picture of the online landscape for LGBTQ+ people in an environment rife with disinformation. The 2024 SMSI report evaluates the performance of six major platforms: Facebook, Instagram, […]

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CDC warns of new mpox outbreak, urges vaccination

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With a severe version of mpox breaking out in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning that it could spread and that people at risk should be vaccinated as soon as possible. High-risk populations include men who have sex with men, although anyone can contract the disease, which is largely spread by skin-to-skin contact — sexual relations, for instance, but also in crowds at outdoor festivals. Thousands of gay and bisexual men developed mpox in a 2022 outbreak. People with compromised immune systems, such as those living with HIV, are at high risk for […]

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Donald Trump says he’ll revoke Joe Biden’s protections for trans people ‘on day one’

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If Donald Trump wins the presidency in November, he will reverse President Joe Biden’s transgender protections “on day one” of a new Trump administration, the Republican nominee said Friday. Trump made the remark on Kayal & Company, a right-wing radio talk show in Philadelphia. “The world is like a cuckoo’s nest right now,” he said, referring to “men playing in women’s sports,” among other transphobicthings. Cohost Dawn Stensland raised the issue of “biological boys” in girls’ locker rooms as a result of the Biden administration’s recent rule on the enforcement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the law banning sex discrimination in federally funded educational […]

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The queerest education in America: How LGBTQ+ kids thrive at this Indiana school

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It’s 7:45 a.m. on an uncharacteristically warm late February Monday in Indiana, and eager students are trickling into school an hour early – not because they have to, but because they want to. In the softly lit dawn of South Bend, an industrial Midwestern city aspiring for urban renewal, there’s a school that’s rewriting the story of what it’s like to grow up queer in America. A sanctuary for LGBTQ+ kids Inside the walls of what was once a grand church – complete with steeple and bell tower – sits River Montessori High School. This space, once a key site for the […]

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Pittsburgh’s gay police chief is stopping crime and living proud

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Pittsburgh in the late 1980s and 1990s wasn’t known as an LGBTQ+ stomping ground — regardless of what you might have seen on Queer as Folk. After I graduated from college, I worked briefly in the Pittsburgh area and usually met my friends in downtown Pittsburgh for happy hours. I would get drunk, I’d sneak away from them, and go to a gay bar. I have no idea how I found what I think was the only gay bar in the city. I couldn’t remember the name of the bar until recently. But I do know one night, I went down the wrong way […]

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