The Advocate

State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta rose on the Pennsylvania House floor and offered a line that cut through hours of legislative debate and decades of legal inertia. “God did not make me to hate me,” he said. Minutes later, the chamber voted to move Pennsylvania closer to matching its laws to that principle. The Pennsylvania House passed legislation Wednesday to codify marriage equality into state law, approving the measure in a 127–72 vote with bipartisan support, according to NBC affiliate WPXI in Pittsburgh. The bill would redefine marriage in state statute as a union between “two individuals,” replacing language dating back to the 1990s that limits marriage to “one man and […]

The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund on Monday endorsed 35 candidates across 19 states, expanding its push to build LGBTQ+ political power as rights face renewed challenges in the 2026 election cycle. At a glance, the list reads like a catalog of local and state races, city councils, county commissions, statehouses, and a mayoral bid in Reno. But taken together, it sketches a deliberate effort to seed LGBTQ+ representation throughout the machinery of the American government at a moment when that presence is being tested and, in some places, rolled back. The March endorsements bring the group’s total for the 2026 cycle to 163 candidates nationwide, an […]

The South Carolina Senate has approved a bill restricting transgender students’ access to bathrooms and locker rooms, advancing legislation that reflects a widening shift in how Republican-led states are regulating the everyday lives of trans people and aligning with a growing number of Republican-led states adopting similar policies. The proposal passed Monday by a 35-2 vote, with two Democratic state senators voting against it. The state senate comprises 34 Republicans and 12 Democrats. The measure, which now heads to the GOP-controlled House.  The legislation would extend existing state rules to both K-12 schools and public colleges, requiring multi-user restrooms, locker rooms, and changing facilities to be used by individuals based […]

Amid a torrent of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and a national political climate increasingly defined by fear and distortion, Evan Low has come to an unsettling realization: What the country is living through right now is not normal. Low, the president and CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and Victory Institute and a former California state lawmaker, had just returned from Creating Change, the annual gathering of LGBTQ+ advocates and organizers hosted by the National LGBTQ Task Force in January. The conversations, he said, were less about inspiration than confirmation that the scope, coordination, and intensity of attacks on LGBTQ+ people have […]