Features

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Nearly 200,000 Trans People Have Been Exposed to Conversion Therapy, Study Says

Nearly 200,000 transgender people in the United States have been exposed to so-called conversion therapy at some point in their lives, according to a study published Thursday by The American Journal of Public Health. “Conversion therapy” refers to efforts to change an LGBTQ person’s gender identity or sexual orientation and has been condemned by nearly every major health association, including the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Using data from the National Center for Transgender Equality’s 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey and UCLA’s Williams Institute, researchers from Harvard and The Fenway Institute estimated that 187,923 trans people across all 50 states — or approximately […]

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Meet the Artist Behind Chicago’s Iconic #AmazingForAll Sculpture

Pretty much everyone knows Illinois is one of the most welcoming places for LGBTI people in the US. From Boystown to a plethora of LGBTI-owned and friendly businesses across the state, it’s a place where people of all backgrounds live and thrive. To embrace the state’s diversity, the Illinois Office of Tourism created a new campaign to spread a message to the LGBTI community and the rest of the world: that Illinois is Amazing for All. Last summer, Illinois Office of Tourism unveiled its #AmazingForAll sculpture at Northalsted Market Days, one of the largest street festivals in North America. The sculpture was created and designed by Chicago […]

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The ‘Gay Beach’ Trend Explained by a Travel Expert

We are already midway through summer and LGBTI travelers, one of the most dynamic travel audiences, mold the landscape of the global tourism industry with their travel choices.  Travel by Interest, a gay travel website that turned into a global hotel-choosing tool, researched what gay travelers search for ahead of their summer holidays, and ‘Gay Beaches’ proved to be the hottest trend in Google with more than 58,000 average monthly searches. But… could a gay beach, even if that gay beach is one of the best in the world, become a reason to choose your next destination? In some cases yes; in others no. One thing […]

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LGBTQ Video Creators Sue YouTube over Alleged Discrimination

A group of LGBTQ creators has sued YouTube and its parent company Google, alleging that the video platform was regularly restricting their abilities to make money with their videos based on their sexual orientation. The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in California Tuesday and first reported by The Washington Post Wednesday morning, seeks class-action status. YouTube did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning. “YouTube is engaged in discriminatory, anticompetitive, and unlawful conduct that harms a protected class of persons under California law,” the lawsuit alleges. It was filed on behalf of the creators of […]

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DOJ Trying to Strong-arm EEOC to Reverse Policy and Tell SCOTUS it is Legal to Discriminate against LGBT Workers

In a stunning move the Trump Dept. of Justice is trying to get the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission(EEOC) to reverse years of findings and rulings, and declare that discrimination against LGBT workers is legal. The EEOC does not make law but its findings are highly-regarded and taken into account by the courts. Since 2011 the EEOC has stated that stereotyping of lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers is sex discrimination and thus illegal. The following year that was expanded to include transgender workers. In 2015 the EEOC declared sexual orientation workplace discrimination is already illegal.. Now, the DOJ is “urging,” as Bloomberg Law reports, the EEOC […]

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Methodist Church Voids Key Vote on Pro-LGBTQ Church Departures

The United Methodist Church announced that it has voided a vote that would have governed how congregations leave the faith over the issue of LGBTQ inclusion, citing “irregularities” in a measure that passed by just two votes in February. In a press release released Saturday, the United Methodist Church said that an investigation uncovered that four people posed as absent delegates to cast votes at the February conference. “Multiple pieces of evidence corroborated the conclusion that these four individuals improperly cast votes,” the press release said.  In February, Methodists met in St. Louis for a General Conference that was summoned in […]

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Tech Companies Have Given Millions of Dollars to Anti-LGBTQ Politicians

Technology companies are often portrayed as being progressive businesses, but their political spending suggests otherwise. Activist group Zero for Zeros analyzed political contributions made by the highest-scoring companies on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index, a benchmarking tool that focuses on measuring corporate policies and practices for LGBTQ employees. It found that while many companies talk a big game when it comes to equality, they have quietly been lining the pockets of politicians who support regressive and oppressive measures that tread on LGBTQ rights. In reviewing political contributions of 49 major companies, Zero for Zeros tallied a total of $5,837,331 given by corporate […]

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This is How Many LGBT People Identify as Asexual in America

The Asexual Education and Visibility Network (AVEN) defines asexuality as: “Someone who does not experience sexual attraction or an intrinsic desire to have sexual relationships.” There is a lot of diversity in how people experience being asexual however, levels of sexual attraction can vary and asexual people are often still in romantic relationships. The research found that those who identified as asexual “were as likely to report being in an intimate relationship as non-asexual LGB adults.” They were also likely to as non-binary (72 percent) or as women (27 percent) and 86 percent were assigned female at birth. People between […]

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Civil Rights Probe Opened into Transgender Athlete Policy

The federal Office for Civil Rights has launched an investigation into Connecticut’s policy that allows transgender high school athletes to compete as the gender with which they identify. The investigation was announced in a letter Wednesday from the arm of the U.S. Department of Education. It follows a complaint in June by the families of three girls, who say they were discriminated against by having to compete in track events against two athletes who were identified as male at birth and who they say have “male hormone levels and musculature.” The complaint was submitted on the girls’ behalf by lawyers […]

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FDA Backs Gilead’s HIV Prevention Drug Descovy for Use as PrEP

An FDA advisory panel on Wednesday voted in favor of Gilead Sciences Inc’s combination drug to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV infection in men and transgender women who have sex with men. The treatment, Descovy, is a combination of emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide, and is already approved to treat chronic HIV. When asked to assess the efficacy of Descovy for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) of HIV in men and transgender women who have sex with men, a patient population that forms the largest component of the PrEP market, the panel voted 16-2 in favor. Related NBC OUT Generic HIV […]

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