Everybody’s Business

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American Girl released their first doll with an LGBT+ storyline

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For the first time, the popular American Girl franchise has released a doll with an LGBT+ storyline, so of course homophobes are trying to stage a boycott. The iconic dolls were a cultural phenomenon in the ’90s and still command a multi-generational fanbase in the US, with some of the toys selling for thousands online. Each doll is accompanied by a book telling the character’s story, but the 2021 Girl of the Year, Kira Bailey, is dividing loyal fans – because she has two gay aunts. In Kira Down Under, the animal-loving 10-year-old goes to Australia to spend the summer at her aunts’ wildlife sanctuary. The book casually mentions that […]

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Grindr Slapped with Record £8.5 Million Fine for Selling User Data

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Grindr has been fined £8.5 million for illegally selling user data, including tracking codes and precise locations, in a serious violation of European privacy law. The Norwegian Data Protection Authority revealed on Monday (25 January) that the global hook-up app had shared users’ private details with at least five advertisers, including Twitter’s own advertising platform, which may in turn share data with more than 100 partners. The app had illegally transmitted users’ IP address, advertising ID, GPS location, age and gender, essentially tagging individuals as LGBT+ without obtaining their explicit consent. The fine of 100 million Norwegian kroner (£8.5m or $11.7m US) is […]

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Bernie Sanders’ Inauguration mittens Were Handmade by a Lesbian Teacher

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Bernie Sanders’ iconic inauguration mittens, immortalised in countless memes, were handmade by a lesbian teacher. Some of the United States’ most powerful political figures turned out on Wednesday (20 January) to watch Joe Biden and Kamala Harris be sworn in as the new president and vice-president of the United States. But Sanders ultimately stole the show with his cosy, casual look, expertly tied together with a pair of woolly mittens. Social media went into overdrive, and it wasn’t long before the Vermont senator found himself supplanted into every meme going. Now, the creator of those mittens has come forward to claim some much-deserved glory for […]

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5 Things Social Media Platforms Can do to Combat Anti-LGBTQ Disinformation

Social media platforms have a major anti-LGBTQ disinformation problem that enables myths, lies, and misleading content to spread to large audiences and earn high engagement. These platforms have occasionally shown that they are capable of quelling disinformation and removing or flagging misleading content, but they are not consistent in enforcing their own policies and protecting LGBTQ people. There are several actions that they can take to do so in 2021. In July, a Media Matters study found that during a year-long time period, right-wing sources earned nearly two-thirds of total Facebook interactions on trans-related content that had more than 100,000 […]

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Ralph Lauren Drops Sponsorship deal with Disgraced Golfer after Anti-gay Slur

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Ralph Lauren has terminated its sponsorship deal with disgraced golfer Justin Thomas after he blurted out a homophobic slur at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. The world number three golf star had worn the company’s clothing since he turned pro, reaching number one in the world on two occasions and winning a major at 24.× He quickly fell from grace on Saturday (9 January), when he was caughtangrily muttering the slur “faggot” live on air at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. “We are disheartened by Mr Thomas’s recent language, which is entirely inconsistent with our values,” Ralph Lauren said in […]

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Designer Alexander Wang Accused of Sexual Assault

Alexander Wang is a name synonymous with high fashion, dressing A-list celebrities from Lady Gaga to Kim Kardashian West. While Wang and his brand are mainstays on fashion week runways and red carpets all over the world, the 37-year-old designer originally from San Francisco is also known for frequenting dance floors and VIP backrooms of the hottest nightspots. It’s in these types of locations that multiple accusers have alleged that Wang has performed nonconsensual sexual acts on them. Earlier this month, Owen Mooney, a 26-year-old model based in the United Kingdom, shared an explicit story on TikTok, accusing a “really famous fashion designer” of […]

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Instagram’s Anti-LGBTQ Trolls Use Algorithms to Zap Gay Influencers

The never-ending war by LGBTQ+ creators to protect their accounts against bullies who manipulate the automated fiefdom that is Instagram, has once again claimed another casualty as two gay Instagrammers had their account disabled with no apparent hope of appeal. The reason is that the social media company, owned by Facebook, is built on a system that makes it nearly impossible to restore an account, have a fair hearing with human interaction, or even receive email communications to dispute the company’s seemingly arbitrary decisions to disable or delete an account. This allows the anti-LGBTQ+ trolls who target LGBTQ+ people nearly […]

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Amazon Urged to Stop ‘Giving Platform’ to Anti-LGBT+ Groups Fundraising on its Site

More than 40 groups that vehemently oppose LGBT+ rights are fundraising on Amazon, despite the online shopping giant’s pledges to support equality. An investigation by openDemocracy found that the US AmazonSmile platform – that lets Amazon customers donate to charities as they shop online – has hosted groups that have intervened in court cases opposing equal marriage, described COVID-19 as “the consequential wrath of God” and punishment for sins including society’s “proclivity toward lesbianism and homosexuality”, and attacked TV shows for increasing “social acceptance of homosexuality”. Among the anti-LGBT+ group hosted on AmazonSmile are Focus on the Family, American Family Association and […]

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LGBT Kilt-Maker Pulls Line Adopted By Proud Boys

Washington DC’s CBS News affiliate reports: As pro-Trump supporters descended on D.C. for the second MAGA march Saturday, some men wearing Proud Boys gear were seen sporting yellow kilts…to the shock of the kilts’ maker. The owner of Verillas in Fredericksburg, Allister Greenbrier, said his business produced the yellow kilts seen in the photo snapped by NPR reporter Hannah Allam. Other videos have circulated social media showing the same men mooning the crowd, with the words “Fuck Antifa” written on their butts in sharpie markers. Yahoo News reports: Allister Greenbrier, the owner of Verillas, tells Yahoo Life that when the team saw […]

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Target Pulls Abhorrent Anti-trans Book from Shelves

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It took just one day for Target to pull a screening U-turn Friday (13 November) after it removed a transphobic book off its digital shelves, prompting anti-trans users to pelt the American retail giant into submission. Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughter, which is currently rated just two-and-a-half stars on Target’s website, has been fiercely upbraided by LGBT+ rights activists since its July 2020 release.× Penned by renowned anti-trans journalist Abigail Shrier, a firebrand Wall Street Journal writer who has obsessively written about vastly debunked anti-trans theories, the book trumpets that being trans is a “contagion”, a “craze” and an “epidemic”. While Target […]

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