Ives debuted the t-shirt as he took a bow at his Fall/Winter 2025 show at London Fashion Week. Due to high demand, the t-shirt was put on sale, with all proceeds going to Trans Lifeline, a peer support and crisis hotline supporting trans people in the United States and Canada.
The new campaign re-established support for the ‘dolls’, the term an informal descriptor for trans women or transfeminine non-binary people.
For MAC, four “trailblazing dolls” star in the campaign: Dominique Jackson, Josephine DuPont, Ivy Stewart and Green Kim.
Mac will be releasing a limited-edition collection featuring an update of the designer’s iconic shirt and new VIVA GLAM MACximal Lipstick. The release states that sales “give back 100% to charities advancing trans equality and healthy futures for all.”
Previously, the cosmetics brand collaborated with trans icon Kim Petras for a Viva Glam campaign.
‘100% of proceeds go back to trans organisations’
The new MAC Silky Matte VIVA GLAM x Conner Ives ‘Protect the Dolls’ Lipstick. (MAC)
Speaking to Hypebae, Ives shared that the t-shirt was a very last-minute decision stemming from wanting to speak out during a time when trans rights are under attack.
Ives said: “We went on to raise over $600,000 for Trans Lifeline — and here we are now with MAC VIVA GLAM. It’s an incredible next step for us.
“I think it’s important that people know that 100% of proceeds go back to trans organisations. It’s a conversation starter, it’s very important to educate yourself.”
MAC’s global creative director Nicola Formichetti also shared love for the ‘Protect the Dolls’ messaging.
“I was a huge fan of what Conner was doing and with his “Protect the Dolls” initiative,” Formichetti also shared.
“It genuinely touched me and spoke to me in a very personal way, and at the right time. So when I first joined MAC, I wanted my first collaboration to be something very special.
“With VIVA GLAM, 100% of proceeds go to charity — and that’s what Conner was doing. I wanted to create a bigger stage for that [using] the power of VIVA GLAM, so that two powerhouses could come together and do something even bigger.”
The MAC Silky Matte VIVA GLAM x Conner Ives ‘Protect the Dolls’ Lipstick and MAC VIVA GLAM x Conner Ives ‘Protect the Dolls’ Shirt will be available online in the UK and US on March 29th 2026 at 11am GMT and at select MAC locations across the UK.
A man who coerced gay men on dating apps and defrauded them for a total of £28,488 has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Between July 2022 and November 2024, 26-year-old Thomas Godden was found to have tricked three men into thinking they were in romantic relationships with him.
He then exploited them to send him money for what they thought were day-to-day costs, travel expenses and more, and ensured them that he would repay them. One of the men he victimised sent him more than £26,000.
An investigation carried out by the City of London Police found that Godden used Tinder and Bumble to target his victims, presenting himself as a gay man looking to get into a serious relationship.
Unbeknownst to his victims, Godden is heterosexual and was already in a relationship at the time.
Detective Constable Melissa Morgan, who works on the Fraud Operations team for the City of London Police, said of the case: “Godden deliberately targeted men who were seeking companionship and a genuine emotional connection. He abused their trust, manipulated their vulnerabilities and caused significant financial and emotional harm.”
She continued: “This was a calculated pattern of offending, not a misunderstanding or a civil dispute, but a clear case of fraud by false representation.”
When the victims challenged Godden about repaying the money, he became “hostile, made excuses, or threatened to cut off contact”, according to a statement from the City of London Police. In some instances, he “used emotional blackmail, including threats of self-harm, to maintain control and continue receiving funds”.
The investigation also found that Godden used the dating apps solely to procure money, and that his internet search history included questions like: ‘Can you go to jail for romance scamming?’ and ‘Can you go to the police if someone owes you money?’
Godden pleaded guilty to three charges of fraud by false representation in December 2025 and was sentenced to three years in prison on 17 February 2026 at Canterbury Crown Court.
A spokesperson for Bumble said: “We are deeply concerned about anyone taking advantage of our community, and are saddened to hear of these experiences. The safety of our members is our top priority and fraudulent activity is not tolerated on Bumble.”
Colored glass and antique tins line the walls of Again Vintage, each ware reflecting gentle window light. Here, the hustle of New York City finds calm, and by design. Co-owners Ryann Holmes and Sara Elise wanted to run a business but also cultivate a sense of relaxation. Some visitors tell them coming inside feels like an exhale, Holmes says.
The tense political moment has made inclusivity in their business approach feel more urgent. Last year, the store joined Everywhere Is Queer, an app that maps out LGBTQ+ businesses globally. Holmes says the platform has united LGBTQ+ business owners and creatives who often “operate in silos.”
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“People want to support Black- and queer-owned businesses, especially as a form of resistance to a lot of the stuff that we’re seeing now politically,” Holmes says. “It’s been a real connective tissue for us that folks are able to see us on the app already knowing that we’re a queer-affirming space.”
About four years ago, a hub for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs was an idea Charlie Sprinkman had just brought to life. Everywhere Is Queer went live in January 2022 and today is funded through a mix of brand partnerships and paid perks, like in-app prioritization. A string of viral moments since has pushed the app past 20,000 participating businesses.
Sprinkman says threats facing the LGBTQ+ community are cause for strengthening that network even further. As of February, the American Civil Liberties Union reported that at least 398 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were being considered in statehouses around the country this year, many of them targeting transgender rights.
“It’s a really difficult time for our community right now,” Sprinkman says. “It’s now more than ever important that we really put the money in the hands of the people that see us as our most authentic selves.”
LGBTQ-owned businesses that use Everywhere Is Queer submit details about their companies for approval, then get marked by a pin on the map. Businesses can be filtered by type, from bars to hotels to retail, and can even advertise jobs.
“We’ve grown tremendously,” says Chris Redrich, the app’s developer. “We have about a quarter of a million app installs at this point, so we’re seeing pretty regular, repeat usage from users coming back, looking for connection and queer community around them.”
Again Vintage shop in NYCJack Walker
Sprinkman says he struggled to find centralized resources for LGBTQ+ people when he came out as a young adult. As he gradually found comfort and community in LGBTQ+ spaces, Sprinkman saw value in bridging that gap for others too.
Outside of liberal strongholds like New York City, business owners tell The Advocate that being featured on the app has not spurred a notable uptick in sales, likely because there are fewer users nearby. But they describe different benefits, like networking with other business owners and publicly signaling their connection to the LGBTQ+ community.
Rachel Csontos of St. Petersburg, Florida, launched their small business in 2024 without a physical storefront. Sales for their brand, Queer’d Apparel, came through social media and via the pop-up art markets that dot central Florida. The app has helped them meet other LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs.
“I kind of expected it to be an avenue for business, but it’s been more of an avenue for connection,” they say.
Kelsey Riker manages Kindred Post — a gift shop, event space, and contract postal unit in Juneau, Alaska. A tourist last year recommended that her store join the app, she says. Riker hopes the listing will draw new attention during this summer’s cruise season.
Everywhere is Queer creator Charlie Sprinkmancourtesy Everywhere is Queer
“We have a lot of businesses here in Juneau who are very friendly and welcoming and affirming to the queer community,” Riker says. “We want people to know that when they come and visit us here.”
Looking ahead, Sprinkman, who hails from a small town near Milwaukee, says Everywhere Is Queer is looking to develop new features to enhance user experience, though the specifics are not yet public.
In the meantime, he says building the platform has taught him a great deal about creating space for the LGBTQ+ community — and, ironically, starting a business himself.
“It’s just been the most incredible experience of my life,” Sprinkman says. “Hundreds of thousands of people have come across and interacted with Everywhere Is Queer. It’s just so beautiful.”
When Pornhub released its most-watched categories of 2025, queer-themed content held the top two spots: “Lesbian” was the most viewed category and “Transgender” was the second most viewed, up five spots from 2024.
The global appetite for LGBTQ adult content is increasing in tandem with the explosion of AI porn. Over the last year, Google searches for “AI porn generators” have steadily climbed, with one site receiving 8.57 million visitors in January. But unlike porn made up of real people, AI porn is largely unregulated, opening the door for the exploitation of queer bodies.
“More often than not, AI-generated pornography falls under this umbrella of ‘non photo-realistic media,’ or ‘non hyper-realistic adult content,’ not unlike illustration,” Aurélie Petit, a postdoctoral researcher at the Quebec research chair on French-language artificial intelligence and digital technologies, told Uncloseted Media and GAY TIMES. “And the moment you don’t know how to address this kind of content, then you don’t know what to do with a big part of AI adult productions.”
Though there have been steps taken to regulate the AI porn industry, there is still a long way to go. Last year, Congress passed the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which bans the publication of intimate, non-consensual images in the U.S., including AI-generated images. And the sharing of these images, known as deepfakes, is now a felony in Tennessee.
But much of AI porn isn’t based on one person’s likeness. Rather, it’s generated from a vast database of preexisting content used to teach the AI model. So any user who wants to create porn can simply ask an AI model to create their dream scenario, and—in a matter of minutes—a video to their liking that depicts realistic people is created.
“There’s a very real concern that some of the worst types of content on the internet—hateful content, non-consensual content of children … those exist on the internet, and we cannot verify that data sets [used to power AI algorithms] don’t include those images,” says Miranda Wei, postdoctoral fellow at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy.
Outside of deepfakes, U.S. laws leave AI-generated porn in a legal gray area, often varying by state or municipality. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill cracking down on deepfakes and requiring AI-generated content to be watermarked. But there is yet to be consistent policy across the board on how to legislate AI porn.
“When you have real people, or images that look like real people, we understand harm,” says Petit. “But most platforms do not know what to do. … It’s really a legal blur, a policy blur.”
Depictions of Trans Women
Because transphobic people make up a significant chunk of porn consumers, mainstream trans porn is often designed in a way that leans into prejudice. Videos using slurs or harmful tropes perform well on porn websites, and Google trends show that searches for “tranny porn” and “shemale porn” remain high. On Reddit, the largest trans-related subreddit is r/traps, a porn-sharing group named after a derogatory term that describes trans women as “traps” for cis men.
“[The internet] is still often reflecting a very heteronormative mindset. … Those preexisting biases for what kinds of content exists on the internet informs the data that is fed into those AI models,” Wei told Uncloseted Media and GAY TIMES.
A quick search for “AI trans porn” produces countless generated images of hyper-feminine trans women with unrealistically large penises, often the same length as their torsos. Other videos show trans women being penetrated by men with penises so large that, in real life, they would inevitably cause physical harm.
“When they say trans, you need to really understand it’s trans women, and a trans woman who still has a penis … it’s really a fetishization of trans women pre-operation,” Petit says.
One of Google’s first search results for “AI trans porn” is for CreateAIShemale. On the site, users can build a trans woman from a wide variety of options. They can choose her age, the size of her breasts, butt and penis, and select from nearly 70 modifiers including “bimbo,” “spanked, hand print,” “impregnation” and “pony cock.” The site also lists 42 options for “race,” with strange inclusions such as “goblin” and “green skin.”
On a separate but similar site, the owners write: “Your fantasy, your rules. With Trans AI customization, you can design every detail of your AI companion—from physical characteristics and outfits to voice tone and personality traits. … Our shemale AI models can generate images and videos on demand, making your interactions more vivid and exciting. … Shemale AI makes it possible instantly.”
Brandon Robinson, associate professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of California, Riverside, says these infinite customization options are concerning: “[It] can further the objectification of trans women, as it treats them as just sex objects that can be changed and customized to one’s own likes and desires,” they say. “It also erases that trans women are real, actual human beings, with their own wants, needs, and desires.”
Beyond the fetishization lies a celebration of violence against trans women. A quick search yields videos with headlines that include “AI Generated Shemale Getting Destroyed by a Massive Dick.”
Robinson says these depictions exacerbate preexisting stereotypes. “A lot of men come into dating or hooking up with trans women with these stereotypes.”
Screenshot from PornHub.
Depictions of Gay Men
While deepfake laws in the U.S. now offer some protection, AI porn that isn’t based on one person’s likeness is harder to prosecute. And that’s concerning when you look at the global appetite for gay porn. In 2025, Pornhub reported that “femboy” and “twink” were the site’s two most searched for gay terms. And “Femboy Fixation” was one of the top five trends that defined 2025, with searches for “cute femboy” and “sexy femboy” up 79% and 93%, respectively.
What’s concerning is that AI has the ability to produce depictions of categories—which are code words for skinny, younger men—that take it to the next level. Many AI-generated depictions of these men show very thin, often emaciated, bodies. “It’s giving very unrealistic body ideas,” Robinson told Uncloseted Media and GAY TIMES. “And we know that there’s a history of eating disorders and body dysmorphia within the gay community.”
Screenshot from PornHub.
Depictions of children in AI porn is another space that has opened the door for bad-faith actors. A 2026 issue brief from UNICEF found that across 11 countries, at least 1.2 million children reported having had their images manipulated into sexually explicit deepfakes through AI tools in the past year. And while there have been regulations on deepfakes, groups devoted to creating twink and femboy AI porn can create videos that depict youthful, small bodies, potentially making content that blurs the lines between adult content and child pornography.
While some may find it hard to believe that something as sinister and criminalized as child pornography could be informing AI models, Wei says it’s happening. “Using Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) is definitely not legal. It is awful. But lots of illegal things still happen,” she says. “People do use generative AI to generate AI CSAM, because the models have probably ingested CSAM before.”
Screenshot from PornHub.
Lesbian Porn and AI
Unrealistic depictions of lesbian sex are also popping up in AI porn. One AI-generated lesbian porn video shows a woman licking semen out of another woman’s vagina—inserting an invisible male presence into sex between women.
Another disturbing part of AI’s representation of lesbians has to do with how it often makes women look identical. In one AI-generated image, two lesbians in matching black bikinis sit on the beach. Their haircuts, facial features and bodies are the same. Through these kinds of images, AI risks encouraging viewers to overlook women’s individuality or—worse—lean into the fetish of incest.
In addition, many of the AI-generated depictions of women are feminine, extremely thin, white, and often have unrealistically large breasts and butts. While these attributes are already sought after in conventional porn, AI generators have the ability to produce depictions of women with impossible body proportions.
“[AI porn] maintains unrealistic beauty standards that most people can’t conform or live up to but also it pushes most people out of being seen as desirable and beautiful,” says Robinson.
The Impact on the Viewer
AI-generated porn can be harmful for those who watch it, especially for young people: Pornography is already highly addictive, with one study finding a 91% increase in pornography consumption since 2000. Another study found that between 17-24% of adolescents have experienced a dependency on AI.
Wei finds this troubling because much of how AI porn is generated is a black box. “From a consumer standpoint, you don’t really have the ability to audit how this tool was made,” she says.
Because of this, users may unknowingly consume media that is based off of abusive imagery or even child pornography. This is because the massive amount of data that tech companies use to feed their AI models is gathered from across the internet, making it impossible for individuals to vet each piece of information. “It feels more risky to use it when you don’t know who created [the AI porn], what their intentions were, or how they collected the data that was used to make it.”
Wei says what’s most concerning is that the data that tech companies use to feed their AI models is not always publicly available. “Large tech companies can be very protective of where they get their data. That is part of their business,” she says. “The scale at which these data sets are being collected means that you cannot have a human manually go through and verify that every piece collected was consensual [or] that a queer person was accurately depicted.”
What Can be Done?
Some popular generative AI models say there are safety regulations in place. ChatGPT’s website states that the model cannot be used for the creation of “illicit activities” or “sexual violence.” But Petit says that bad-faith actors may still succeed in skirting regulation. “There’s so many AI generators, and there’s people whose entire game is to break the generation,” she says. “You can tweak it more and more and can make the AI do something it doesn’t want.”
In one Reddit thread, a user of Elon Musk’s Grok expressed frustration about newly developed moderation making it harder to generate explicit images. In response, another user seemingly confirmed they were able to find a workaround: “Right now I’m generating realistic videos of completely naked men with tentacles and fluids and non-con sex talk and moans and it works great,” the user wrote.
The potential for nefarious uses of AI came to light when it was revealed that, starting in December 2025, Grok produced and shared upwards of 1.8 million sexualized images of women over the course of nine days. “As we’ve seen with Grok and the numerous scandals over the past few years, the ability to stop an AI model from creating explicit imagery of someone is … unsolved,” Wei says.
Wei doesn’t have a bulletproof solution. “I’m not necessarily aware of a universal technique that could prevent, 100% of the time, the creation of images of other people,” she says.
There are, however, strategies that help safeguard AI models. For example, red teaming, which consists of prompting an AI model to generate illicit content, is an ethical tool companies can use to spot regulatory weaknesses. “[It’s] a way to adversarially test, to attack a model and see if it can do harmful things which you are trying to prevent it from doing,” says Wei.
With some companies like Google employing hackers to red team in hopes of identifying security concerns, Wei thinks other AI companies should do the same.
Another approach lies in public model cards, which are small files accompanying AI models that provide information about the data the model was trained on, as well as the AI’s intended use and limitations. Both of these methods are in pursuit of transparency, which Wei sees as necessary to safer AI use. “There should be a way to make technologies safe when people want to use them. … Transparency is needed in order to make progress on safety issues, but that’s again, ongoing.”
In the meantime, Wei says that “tech companies and lawmakers need to step up” and implement greater regulation around AI porn. “Effective regulation also needs the input of people who already have lived experience with pornography, like sex workers and adult actors, and anyone who would be depicted in this imagery.”
An editor who worked on the animated film The Bad Guys 2 is suing two major entertainment companies behind the project — DreamWorks Animation and NBCUniversal Media — alleging anti-trans discrimination during the film’s production.
Parker Goldsmith, who is transgender, filed a lawsuit against the companies in California state court last week, alongside several people who worked on the film, including former editor John Venzon.
Goldsmith alleges that throughout production, Venzon repeatedly subjected them to harassment related to their gender identity. According to the complaint, Venzon used Goldsmith’s deadname, sent them unsolicited memes about transgender people, asked invasive questions about their medical transition and personal life, and made sexually inappropriate remarks.
The lawsuit describes the behavior as “severe, pervasive, and unwelcome harassment” that created a hostile work environment during the production of the DreamWorks sequel.
Goldsmith also alleges that Venzon frequently singled them out in front of coworkers by discussing their pronouns and gender identity and asking personal questions about their transition. In some instances, the complaint says, Venzon asked intrusive questions about hormone treatment and made jokes about transgender bodies.
According to the filing, Goldsmith reported the conduct to supervisors multiple times before eventually escalating the issue to human resources.
Venzon was fired from the film in March 2024, Law360 reported. By that point, Goldsmith had already begun working remotely on the film after raising concerns with human resources, according to the lawsuit.
But the lawsuit alleges that the workplace environment did not improve after complaining. Goldsmith says coworkers and supervisors continued to discuss the HR investigation openly and to mock references to human resources that circulated among staff, creating what the lawsuit describes as a “retaliatory environment.”
Goldsmith continued working on The Bad Guys 2 until the production wrapped in May 2025. However, the lawsuit alleges that after reporting the harassment, the companies stopped offering them new work opportunities despite multiple openings for which they were qualified.
Goldsmith is seeking compensation for emotional distress, punitive damages, and other losses. The lawsuit also asks the court to require the companies to discipline responsible managers and provide specialized workplace training to employees involved in the production.
Media representatives for the two companies did not immediately return The Advocate’s requests for comment.
An attorney for Goldsmith said the case comes down to “their right to work in an environment free from harassment and hostility based on sex, gender, gender identity, and gender expression.”
“The entertainment industry has long struggled with these issues,” wrote attorney Eliot Rushovich in an email to The Advocate. “Even though speaking up can carry real professional risks, our client felt these rights were too important to remain silent.”
As Kansas began abruptly voiding certain transgender residents’ driver’s licenses under a new Republican-backed law, rideshare company Lyft is drawing praise from national LGBTQ+ advocates for offering people affected a discounted ride.
On Saturday evening, the rideshare company posted on Threads, “If you live in Kansas and need a new way to get around, use code TRANSJOY for 50% off a ride this week,” with a pink heart and trans Pride flag emoji. In a follow-up post, Lyft added: “valid through 3/9/26, up to $10 total discount. Supplies are limited.” The promotion marks one of the first visible corporate responses to the law’s immediate practical impact.
The offer came just two days after Senate Bill 244 took effect. Under the statute, any Kansas driver’s license that lists a gender marker inconsistent with a person’s sex assigned at birth is automatically invalid. The law does not provide for a grace period. Instead, it declares that previously issued licenses that do not match the state’s statutory definition of sex, defined in Kansas law as biological sex at birth, “shall be invalid” upon publication.
The Division of Vehicles was required to notify affected individuals in writing that their credentials are no longer valid and instruct them to surrender those licenses. A new license reflecting sex assigned at birth must then be issued. Some of those letters, dated Monday, went out. As of Thursday, that meant transgender Kansans whose licenses reflected their gender identity were legally considered to be driving without a valid credential unless and until they complied with the new requirement.
A Lyft spokesperson said the promotion aligns with the company’s broader mission.
“At Lyft, our purpose is to serve and connect, which means that we want to help everyone get to the people and places they love — no matter who they are or where they come from,” the spokesperson said in a statement to The Advocate. They did not address what, if anything, the company would do for any transgender drivers in Kansas who are affected by the law.
Lyft is coming off a strong year financially. In an earnings release in early February, the company reported record fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results and announced a new $1 billion share repurchase program, with CEO David Risher describing the company as entering a “transformational phase” in 2026.
A Lyft spokesperson said that the company’s mission is to serve and connect all people regardless of their background.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Through its Lyft Up program, the company says it provides discounted or donated rides for job seekers, food access, and emergency response. In 2024, the company reported providing more than 100,000 free or discounted rides during emergencies, including wildfires and severe storms.
Lyft has supported diverse causes for years.
Since 2017, Lyft says riders have contributed more than $42 million to nonprofits through its Round Up & Donate program, which includes partners such as the Human Rights Campaign and the American Civil Liberties Union. The company has also received a perfect score on the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index.
Lyft has also partnered with Advocates for Trans Equality on initiatives to help transgender riders and drivers update identity documents, including supporting efforts to make name and gender marker changes on state IDs and other records, as part of what the company describes as efforts to reduce barriers within its platform.
Eric Bloem, vice president of corporate citizenship at the Human Rights Campaign, applauded Lyft’s support while sharply criticizing the Kansas statute. “It’s great to see Lyft, [which] has for years been steadfast in its support of equality for LGBTQ+ workers and customers, showing up for trans people in Kansas,” Bloem said in a statement to The Advocate. “More business leaders should be asking how they can use their resources to defend the dignity of their customers and employees.”
SB 244 also bars transgender residents and people born in Kansas from updating gender markers on state-issued driver’s licenses and birth certificates in the future. It further restricts restroom access in government buildings based on sex assigned at birth and authorizes private lawsuits against individuals accused of violating those provisions.
The immediate consequences are practical. A driver’s license is often essential for employment, school, medical appointments, and basic errands. Civil rights advocates argue the deeper harm is compelled disclosure, forcing transgender people to present identification that contradicts how they live and move through the world.
“This legislation is a direct attack on the dignity and humanity of transgender Kansans,” Monica Bennett, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, said in announcing a lawsuit on behalf of two transgender men in the state who are challenging the law. Harper Seldin, senior staff attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project, described SB 244 as “a cruel and craven threat to public safety,” adding that invalidating state-issued IDs “threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police.”
Corporate responses to anti-LGBTQ+ legislation have grown more politically fraught since President Donald Trump took office again in 2025. Since then, his administration has shown disfavor toward diversity and inclusion measures across American society. The federal government, at Trump’s direction, has adopted the point of view that biological sex is a rigid definition at birth and that gender nonconformity is not recognized under federal policy.
“Trans Kansans should never have had their lives turned upside down by this abject cruelty from the legislature,” Bloem said. “This law is disrupting lives and doing real damage.”
He added, “We will not stop fighting for a future where trans people’s freedom to live with dignity is not dictated by the whims of a political agenda.”
Tim Cook, the gay CEO of Apple, made an obsequious appearance at the White House on Saturday night to join Trump loyalists for a screening of the First Lady’s new feature-length documentary, Melania.
The black-tie event saw Cook, champagne in hand, celebrating the moment with the movie’s disgraced director, one-time box-office draw Brett Ratner, who was ostracized by Hollywood following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct in 2017.
Cook’s appearance at the premiere was a particularly disappointing sight for the LGBTQ+ Apple users who are appalled by recent events in Minneapolis.
The screening took place the same day that intensive care nurse Alex Pretti was shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis while protesting Trump’s immigration crackdown there. Pretti’s death follows the shooting of gay protester Renee Good at point-blank range by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7.
Cook’s appearance at the screening followed his gift to Trump in August of a custom glass and 24-karat gold “award” bearing Cook’s signature, with an eye to Apple’s bottom line; the company was exempted from tariffs affecting the company in the aftermath.
Cook told Trump as he shook his hand and presented the gift to him, “Congratulations, Mr. President.”
The Apple CEOs bootlicking is particularly galling given his own publicly acknowledged liberal values. Cook was the first out gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and he has labelled Don’t Say Gay legislation and anti-trans bathroom bills as a “license to discriminate.”
Guests at the screening included Mike Tyson, self-help guru Tony Robbins, and Queen Rania of Jordan.
Cook was among several tech and entertainment company toppers celebrating the First Lady, among them CEOs Eric Yuan of Zoom and Linsa Su of AMD. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Studios chief Mike Hopkins, the producers of the film, were also in attendance. The company spent $40 million on the First Lady glow-up.
Mrs. Trump called the screening “A Historic Moment.”
“Our personal stories endure time and serve as a reminder of our mutual obligation to one another,” Melania Trump said apropos of nothing in her record as First Lady.
Guests were welcomed to the Saturday screening by a full military band playing famous movie tunes and “Melania’s Waltz,” a song commissioned for the film by Hollywood composer Tony Neiman, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
One guest shared that Cook and fellow moviegoers were treated to commemorative black and white popcorn boxes; framed, collectible screening tickets; and “take home cookies” bearing the First Lady’s name.
A limited-edition version of her memoir, Melania, was also gifted to attendees.
The official premiere of the documentary takes place on Thursday night at the recently renamed Trump-Kennedy Center.
President Trump’s return to office has fueled the grassroots forces that have driven a spike in LGBTQ book bans in recent years, creating a notable chill in the market for queer stories, according to authors and others in the publishing industry.
“This is the first year in like a decade that I’ve had [rejection] responses from editors specifically citing that it’s difficult to place queer books in stores, and they’re being selective about acquiring queer stories,” said Rebecca Podos, a senior literary agent at Neighborhood Literary and young adult and adult novelist.
Industry professionals and authors fear that this atmosphere may continue throughout Trump’s presidency, resulting in fewer queer novels reaching readers in the coming years.
Trans people could be able to update their email address with their new name under an upcoming Gmail update.
The world’s largest email provider is reportedly rolling out a new function which will allow users to update their “gmail.com” addresses.
The email service, operated by Google, currently forbids users with a Gmail handle from changing their email address.
However, according to the blog 9 to 5 Google, an updated section to its support page suggests developers are “gradually rolling out” a change which will allow addresses to be changes.
The new section, which is currently only present on Google’s Hindi support pages, reads: “If you’d like, you can change your Google Account email address that ends in gmail.com to a new email address that ends in gmail.com.”
When users change their email address, the old handle will reportedly become an ‘alias’ address, meaning that emails sent to the old address will automatically forward to the new one.
Google notes that users who change their address will be unable to create a new email address for 12 months and will be unable to delete the new handle.
If fully implemented, the change could allow trans users to remove their deadname – a name commonly given to them at birth which may not match their correct gender identity – from their email address without having to create a completely new account.
While Gmail currently allows users to change their display name on emails, the current inability to change the actual email handle to remove a user’s deadname is a common problem among people in the community.
One individual complained about the restriction in a post on Reddit, saying they were reluctant to make a new account given how much they have stored on Google’s services such as Google Drive or Google Contacts.
“I think I’d rather not have any trace of my deadname publicly visible, but I’m not sure if I should get rid of my whole account or just try to hide it behind a proxy email,” they wrote.
Members of the Google Pixel Hub Telegram group commended the change, with one user writing it would be “huge if true.”
“Many of us have had Gmail since the beginning when we didn’t know it would matter this much,” they wrote. “Many others got their accounts as kids under the same lack of realisation, and some people have changed their names.”
While the changes aren’t fully live yet, 9 to 5 Google noted that news on the update came earlier than expected.
An internet privacy group is accusing TikTok of violating international law by tracking its users’ Grindr data.
European digital rights group NOYB filed a complaint against the social media platform, as well as Grindr and digital marketing company AppsFlyer, over claims they breached online privacy laws by tracking user’s inter-app activities.
The Austria-based organisation alleged to the country’s Data Protection Authority on Wednesday (16 December) that TikTok was violating the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and risked exposing its customer’s sensitive data.
It claimed TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, and Grindr shared sensitive user data, which AppsFlyer allegedly facilitated.
NOYB told Reuters it was informed by an anonymous user that TikTok was accessing their sensitive details from other apps, including their usage of Grindr and LinkedIn, as well as products they had added to a shopping cart.
Grindr has over 14 million monthly active users. (Getty)
TikTok allegedly only told the user that their personal information had been accessed after repeated attempts to inquire about their user data.
Under GDPR’s laws on the right to be informed, organisations must be transparent about how they use an individual’s personal data, typically through a privacy notice. Failing to disclose how a person’s data is used would breach GDPR.
Breaching GDPR can cost companies anywhere from €10 million (£8,700,000) or 3 per cent of their global income, to €20 million (£17,500,000) or 4 per cent of their annual global income.
The breach could also violate GDPR laws on special categories, which protects highly sensitive information such as a person’s race, physical or mental health, religion, sexuality, or gender identity.
NOYB claimed a spokesperson for TikTok said the data was used for “personalised advertising, analytics, security” reasons.
Both the social media company and Grindr have been fined by government authorities over data breaches in the past.
In 2024, Grindr faced mass lawsuits after allegedly sharing users’ personal information, including their HIV status and ethnicity, with a variety of third parties.
Law firm Austen Hays, acting on behalf of the plaintiffs, told the BBC at the time that “thousands” of users in the UK and beyond were likely victims of the alleged actions.
Lawyer Chaya Hanoomanjee said claimants had experienced “significant distress” over the possibility that their private information had been shared with advertisers and other groups.
A spokesperson for the app said it takes privacy “extremely seriously”, claiming the allegations were based on a “mischaracterisation of practices from more than four years ago”.
