Each year between November 13 – 19, people and organizations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help increase understanding about transgender people and the issues members of the community face.
Trans Awareness Week takes place the week before Transgender Day of Remembrance on November 20. Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), is an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence that year.
Read more about Transgender Awareness Week (Semana de Concientización Transgénero en espagnol) and Transgender Day of Remembrance below, and find out how you can participate.
What is Transgender Awareness Week?
Transgender Awareness Week is a week when transgender people and their allies take action to bring attention to the trans community by educating the public about who transgender people are, sharing stories and experiences, and advancing advocacy around issues of prejudice, discrimination, and violence that affect the transgender community.
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was founded in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The vigil commemorated the one year anniversary of Hester’s death and all the transgender people lost to violence that year. That initial event began the world-wide observance that is the annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. You can participate in TDOR by attending or organizing a vigil on November 20 to honor all those whose lives were lost to anti-transgender violence that year. Vigils are typically hosted by local transgender advocates or LGBTQ organizations, and held at community centers, parks, places of worship and other venues. The vigil often involves reading a list of the names of those who have been killed.
What can I do to become a better ally?
Learn about trans people by educating yourself with credible resources about community, language, issues, stories, and actions.
To find other resources on particular topics related to the trans community, type into the search bar for results. For example, if you’re looking to find out more about transgender healthcare, type “transgender healthcare” into the search bar and relevant results will populate.
For authentic, accurate, and diverse portrayals of transgender people, check out the GLAAD Media Award nominations which include spotlights on TV, movies, video games, journalism, and music that feature outstanding examples of representation.
The public health workforce tasked with fighting what has been a long-losing battle against sexually transmitted infections now finds itself confronted with a new, unfamiliar outlook: hope.
After having surged to record levels practically every year this century, overall diagnoses of the three top bacterial STIs have crested since the Covid pandemic. From 2022 to 2023, total diagnoses decreased by 2%, to 2.46 million new cases, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention STI surveillance report published Tuesday.
And importantly, diagnoses of primary and secondary syphilis — the most infectious stages of the infection — dropped 10% last year, to 53,000 cases.
The decline was driven by a 13% drop in such syphilis diagnoses among gay and bisexual men, who are about 2% of the adult population but have historically accounted for nearly half of such cases.
STIs also spread disproportionately among young people and racial minorities. Just under half of the top three bacterial STIs were diagnosed among 15 to 24 year olds last year. Nearly one-third of cases were among Blacks, who are 13% of the population.
Overall, gonorrhea declined by 7%, to 601,300 cases, last year; that followed a 9% decline the previous year. Among all stages of syphilis, cases increased 1%, to 209,250 diagnoses. Chlamydia remained stable from 2021 to 2023, at about 1.65 million cases.
“I think we’re at an inflection point, and it’s important that we push forward and take advantage of innovations and investment of STI prevention going forward,” said Dr. Laura Bachmann, chief medical officer of the CDC’s STI prevention division.
The half-dozen other infectious disease experts who spoke with NBC News about the CDC report said they believed the sudden turnaround in syphilis diagnoses among gay and bisexual men was likely to be an early signal of such men’s eager adoption of a new, proven protocol in which the oral antibiotic doxycycline is used for STI prevention.
“That is huge cause for celebration. And I am a little surprised we see that trend at the national level already,” said Dr. Julie Dombrowski, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington.
Referring to a recent decline in syphilis among men in Seattle, she added, “We definitely have seen it at the local level.”
Some experts expressed hope that doxycycline use among gay and bisexual men would have a positive spillover effect in women of childbearing age.
Syphilis poses the greatest threat to newborns, among whom it can cause severe congenital defects and death. Whereas cases of the STI in newborns increased by 30% annually in recent years — greatly alarming public health experts — the upward trend has decelerated. Such a promising shift was apparently driven in part by nationwide efforts to increase testing among pregnant women.
In another hopeful development, a shortage that began in early 2023 of the only recommended treatment for syphilis among pregnant women, Pfizer’s Bicillin-LA, has abated.
In recent years, a trio of randomized controlled trials have shown that instructing gay and bisexual men and transgender women to take one 200-milligram tablet of doxycycline within 72 hours of condomless sex lowers cases of chlamydia and syphilis among them by more than 70% and of gonorrhea by about 50%.
Thanks to penicillin, the nation made steady progress in fighting syphilis after World War II. By the mid-1990s, public health leaders were entertaining the possibility that the STI could be eliminated.
But the approval of effective HIV treatment in 1996 reduced the public’s fear of AIDS. That helped trigger a long decline in condom use among gay and bisexual men in particular. The subsequent approval of the HIV-prevention pill — called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP — in 2012 only hastened the decline.
Bacterial STIs soared accordingly.
DoxyPEP offers a promising form of harm reduction. It’s cheap and well-tolerated, and it can easily be folded into many gay and bisexual men’s routines for receiving prescriptions to treat or prevent HIV.
Early analyses suggest doxyPEP is a sleeper hit in that population.
A study published this month in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases found that San Francisco’s guidance on the preventive tool was tied to a decline in STIs among local men. A study published in next month’s edition of the journal found that among about 900 gay and bisexual men recruited for a survey through hook-up apps, half had heard of doxyPEP and nearly all expressed interest.
A spokesperson for the PrEP-focused telehealth service MISTR told NBC News that since the company started offering doxyPEP in April, three-quarters of users who have filled PrEP prescriptions since then have also requested and received doxycycline. (The representative declined to provide the number of users that entailed but said MISTR serves “over 450,000 patients in all 50 states, D.C. and Puerto Rico.”) Since then, the overall quarterly STI positivity rate among MISTR users has plummeted from 12% to 6%.
In November 2023, the Food and Drug Administration approved the first at-home tests for gonorrhea and chlamydia, which public health experts hope might also help combat the spread of STIs.
And in July, researchers presented findings at a global HIV conference in Munich of studies in which gay and bisexual men in Canada and female sex workers in Japan were instructed to take 100 milligrams of doxycycline daily. The protocol, called doxyPrEP, demonstrated generally comparable efficacy at preventing STIs compared with doxyPEP studies among gay men.
Research is ongoing to address concerns that increased use of doxycycline to prevent STIs might help fuel the burgeoning drug-resistant pathogen crisis. Thus far, researchers have found reassuring signs.
STI-prevention experts are also concerned that, as with HIV PrEP, doxyPEP will prove disproportionately popular among whites and thus will only widen racial disparities in STI transmission. Research is underway to analyze trends in doxyPEP’s use that could help focus promotion of the intervention where the need is greatest.
Public health experts have attributed this century’s surge in STIs, at least in part, to a steady defunding of state and local public-health clinics.
Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, an infectious disease expert at the University of Southern California who led the first study to demonstrate doxyPEP’s efficacy, called for renewed spending on STI-related care.
“If Trump is going to make IVF — in vitro fertilization — free,” Klausner said of the president-elect’s emphatic campaign pledge, “he should make STI testing and treatment free.”
In December, the verified Facebook page of Adam Klotz, a Fox News meteorologist, started running strange video ads.
Some featured the distinctive voice of former President Donald Trump promising “$6,400 with your name on it, no payback required” just for clicking the ad and filling out a form.
In other ads with the same offer, President Joe Biden’s well-known cadence assured viewers that “this isn’t a loan with strings attached.”
There was no free cash. The audio was generated by AI. People who clicked were taken to a form asking for their personal information, which was sold to telemarketers who could target them for legitimate offers — or scams.
Klotz’s page ran more than 300 of these ads before ProPublica contacted the weather forecaster in late August. Through a spokesperson, Klotz said that his page had been hacked and he was locked out. “I had no idea that ads were being run until you reached out.”
Klotz’s page had been co-opted by a sprawling ad account network that has operated on Facebook for years, churning out roughly 100,000 misleading election and social issues ads despite Meta’s stated commitment to crack down on harmful content, according to an investigation and analysis by ProPublica and Columbia Journalism School’s Tow Center for Digital Journalism, as well as research by the Tech Transparency Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit that researches large tech platforms. The organizations combined data and shared their analyses. TTP’s report was produced independently of ProPublica and Tow’s investigation and was shared with ProPublica prior to publication.
The network, which uses the name Patriot Democracy on many of its ad accounts, is one of eight deceptive Meta advertising operations identified by ProPublica and Tow. These networks have collectively controlled more than 340 Facebook pages, as well as associated Instagram and Messenger accounts. Most were created by the advertising networks, with some pages masquerading as government entities. Others were verified pages of people with public roles, like Klotz, who had been hacked. The networks have placed more than 160,000 election and social issues ads on these pages in English and Spanish. Meta showed the ads to users nearly 900 million times across Facebook and Instagram.
The ads are only a fraction of the more than $115 billion Meta earns annually in advertising revenue. But at just over $25 million in total lifetime spend, the networks collectively rank as the 11th-largest all-time advertiser on Meta for U.S. elections or social issues ads since the company began sharing data in 2018. The company’s failure to block these scams consistently highlights how one of the world’s largest platforms struggles to protect its users from fraud and deliver on its nearly decadelong promise to prevent deceptive political ads.
Most of these networks are run by lead-generation companies, which gather and sell people’s personal information. People who clicked on some of these ads were unwittingly signed up for monthly credit card charges, among many other schemes. Some, for example, were conned by an unscrupulous insurance agent into changing their Affordable Care Act health plans. While the agent earns a commission, the people who are scammed can lose their health insurance or face unexpected tax bills because of the switch.
The ads run by the networks employ tactics that Meta has banned, including the undisclosed use of deepfake audio and video of national political figures and promoting misleading claims about government programs to bait people into sharing personal information. Thousands of ads illegally displayed copies of state and county seals and the images of governors to trick users. “The State has recently approved that Illinois residents under the age of 89 may now qualify for up to $35,000 of Funeral Expense Insurance to cover any and all end-of-life expenses!” read one deceptive ad featuring a photo of Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois state seal.
More than 13,000 ads deployed divisive political rhetoric or false claims to promote unofficial Trump merchandise.
A deceptive ad used the image of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the state seal. Credit: Screenshot by ProPublica
Meta removed some of the ads after initially approving them, the investigation found, but it failed to catch thousands of others with similar or even identical content. In many cases, even after removing the violating ads, it allowed the associated Facebook pages and accounts to continue operating, enabling the parent networks to spawn new pages and ads.
Meta requires ads related to elections or social issues like health care and immigration to include “paid for by” disclaimers that identify the person or entity behind the ads. But its rules for verifying advertisers and publicly disclosing who paid for such ads are less stringent than those of its main competitor, Google, ProPublica and Tow found. Many of the disclaimers on Facebook ads listed nonexistent entities.
A Meta spokesperson said it invests heavily in trust and safety and uses a mix of humans and technology to review election and social issues ads.
“We welcome ProPublica’s investigation into this scam activity, which included deceptive ads promoting Affordable Care Act tax credits and government-funded rent subsidies,” spokesperson Margarita Franklin said in an emailed statement. “… [A]s part of our ongoing work against scams, impersonation and spam, our enforcement systems had already detected and disabled a large portion of the Pages — and we reviewed and took action against the remainder of these Pages for various policy violations.”
Our analysis showed that while Meta had removed some pages and ads, its enforcement often lagged or was haphazard. Prior to being contacted by ProPublica and Tow, Meta had taken action against roughly 140 pages affiliated with these eight networks, representing less than half of the total identified in the investigation.
By then, the ads on those pages had been shown hundreds of millions of times, resulting in financial losses for an untold number of people.
Meta ultimately removed a substantial portion of pages flagged by this investigation. But after that enforcement, ProPublica and the Tow Center found that four of the networks ran more than 5,000 ads in October. Patriot Democracy alone activated two pages a day on average in the first half of this month.
“Their enforcement here is just super spotty and inconsistent, and they’re not actually attacking root problems,” said Jeff Allen, the chief research officer of the Integrity Institute, a nonprofit organization for trust and safety professionals.
He said networks like Patriot Democracy exploit the fact that a single Facebook page can be connected to multiple ad accounts and user profiles, creating a complex challenge for enforcement. “But these cracks have existed for the past eight years,” said Allen, a former Meta data scientist who worked on integrity issues before departing in 2019.
“There are a lot of gaps in the system, and Facebook’s overall strategy is to play Whac-A-Mole.”
Franklin noted that scammers use a variety of tactics to conceal their activity. Meta constantly updates its detection and enforcement systems and works with industry and law enforcement partners to combat fraudulent activity, she said.
“This is a highly adversarial space, and we continue to update our enforcement systems to respond to evolving scammer behavior,” Franklin said. She added that Meta has taken legal action against several operators.
Meta’s Rules
Misleading election ads have posed a challenge for Meta since at least 2016, when Russian trolls purchased thousands of Facebook and Instagram ads targeting Americans ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Amid public outcry and pressure from Congress, Meta has created special rules for political and social issues advertisers, launched a public Ad Library to archive such ads and hired additional people to review ads. An integrity team has been tasked with enforcing Meta’s community and advertising standards.
In 2022 and 2023, Meta laid off over 20,000 employees, including members of its integrity team. The company said it has more than 40,000 people working on safety and security around the world, an increase since 2020. It declined to say whether it has more people working on election ad reviews this cycle compared with the last presidential election.
One of the team’s key responsibilities is to verify that election and social issues advertisers are who they say they are, and that their ads adhere to the company’s rules. Since 2019, Meta has required political and social issues advertisers to submit an Employer Identification Number, a government or military website and an associated email address, or a Federal Election Commission registration number.
Meta also allowed state and local organizations and candidates who aren’t federally registered to run ads by providing a corresponding website and email address, a “valid” phone number and a mail-deliverable address. It later relaxed the rules to allow advertisers to simply display the name of their Facebook page as the entity that paid for the ad.
Google, Meta’s main U.S. election ads competitor, doesn’t have similar carve-outs for ad disclaimers. It accepts only an FEC registration number, state elections ID or EIN to verify an organization. Google’s political ad disclaimers list the organization name or the name of a person who completed the ID verification process.
Franklin said Meta has rules to ensure that page name disclaimers aren’t abused. The company’s guidelines say that regardless of how much information advertisers disclose, the ads must “Accurately represent the name of the entity or person responsible for the ad.” But more than 100,000 ads identified by ProPublica and the Tow Center did not.
Patriot Democracy
Adam Klotz’s Facebook page and an example of an ad featuring a deepfake version of President Donald Trump’s voiceCredit: Screenshots by ProPublica
The “paid for by” disclaimers on the ads that mysteriously started appearing on weather forecaster Klotz’s hijacked page listed “Klotz Policy Group” as the advertiser. Klotz Policy Group is not affiliated with Adam Klotz, and the email and website address in the disclaimer do not point to a dedicated website. The group is also not listed in OpenCorporates or other business registration databases.
The advertiser disclaimer information for Klotz’s page listed the email admin@patriotdemocracy.com and the website patriotdemocracy.com/klotzpolicygroup. That URL led to a page that promoted dental coverage for Medicare recipients and used the branding of a site called Saving Tips Daily. Similar URLs with the patriotdemocracy.com domain appeared across other pages in the network, which enabled ProPublica, Tow and the Tech Transparency Project to link them to the same network. (For more details on how the ads and networks were identified, see the methodology section at the end of this story.)
Patriot Democracy is the biggest of the eight networks identified during the course of the investigation and has been active on Meta’s platforms for nearly five years. It includes 232 pages that have spent more than $13 million on more than 110,000 ads.
Allen said operations like Patriot Democracy spend millions on Meta ads because it helps them find victims.
“If they gave over $10 million to Facebook, then they may have extracted $15 million from American seniors with this garbage,” he said. “The harms add up.”
The pages often have official-sounding names such as “Government Cash Program,” “US Financial Relief” and “USA Stimulus Fund,” and their ad disclaimers list organization names that do not correspond to registered entities or websites.
Meta also allowed the page owners to falsely identify themselves as affiliated with the federal government. If a user looked up the page details of “Government Cash Program,” they would see a notation showing that it’s a “Government Website.” US Financial Relief is listed as a “Government organization.” More than 20 pages claimed to be a “Public Service.”
The Government Cash Program Facebook page falsely listed itself as a “Government Website.” Credit: Screenshot by ProPublica
One of the most common types of ads run by Patriot Democracy pages is for Trump merchandise, including coins, flags and hats.
One of these ads ensnared Sam Roberson, a 57-year-old Texas resident, last month. While browsing Facebook, Roberson was drawn to an offer for a Trump coin from a page called Stars and Stripes Supply. The coin was embossed with an image of the former president raising his fist after the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania. One click took him to the site patriotprosnetwork.com, where Roberson paid $39.99 for 11 coins that he planned to give to his grandkids. He received the coins. But two weeks later, his card was charged another $29.99.
Roberson told ProPublica that he didn’t realize that he had signed up for a subscription. He contacted customer support to request a refund, but is skeptical the company will follow through.
“With these knuckleheads and how deep they are dug in, I may end up having to cancel the card,” he said.
When ProPublica called the site’s customer service line, a person who did not give their name said that customers who choose the “VIP” checkout option receive a discount on their purchases and are automatically enrolled in a monthly membership. The spokesperson said that customers are informed on the site and by email “how they got involved [in the membership] and how they can cancel.”
They said that someone else from the company could answer questions about advertising but hung up when asked how often they receive customer complaints about the membership fee.
An example of a Trump coin ad run by the Stars and Stripes Supply Facebook page Credit: Screenshot by ProPublica
ProPublica also sent an email with detailed questions about the coin offer and the subscription but did not receive a response.
The Stars and Stripes Supply page spent over $700,000 on Meta ads for Trump merchandise and ran ads as recently as Sept. 28 before it was removed by Meta. The page and the store have received onlinecomplaints about the billing scheme. It’s unclear who controls the page or the store, or how they are connected.
In addition to the billing schemes, the Trump merchandise ads often draw clicks with false claims and divisive language. Stars and Stripes Supply ran ads for Trump and JD Vance yard signs that falsely claimed “liberal activists are ripping Trump-Vance yard signs from the ground, sparking a wave of controversy across the nation.”
A page called Truly American ran a video ad for a “free” Trump flag and coin offer that was narrated by a female voice claiming to be Melania Trump. “Today we see free thinkers and independent voices like gay conservatives and Log Cabin Republicans silenced, censored and bullied by cancel-culture mobs. Donald stood against this and they tried to silence him for good,” the voice intoned, as the ad showed an image of Trump with his bloodied ear.
It’s unclear who ultimately controls the Patriot Democracy pages and associated Instagram accounts or who paid for the ads. Along with listing fake advertiser names, Patriot Democracy ad disclaimers show addresses that often correspond to WeWork co-working spaces or UPS stores. And the phone numbers, which are shared among multiple pages, led to generic voicemail messages — with one exception.
A man who answered one number said he’d never run ads on Meta and didn’t know why his phone number was listed. He said he was on his way to court and asked the reporter to call back later. He did not answer a subsequent call, and the phone number was soon disconnected.
The ownership information for patriotdemocracy.com and its related domains is also private, making it impossible to know who registered the domain. Meta did not answer specific questions about the network.
Before ProPublica and Tow reached out, Meta had removed less than half of Patriot Democracy pages for violating its advertising standards. It also failed to take action against the larger network, even after some of its pages were exposed in earlier reports by Forbes and researchers at Syracuse University.
Of the more than 110,000 ads on Patriot Democracy pages identified by ProPublica and Tow, Meta stopped just over 7,000, or roughly 6%, from running for violating standards. These ads were shown nearly 60 million times before Meta took action. Meta also consistently failed to detect and remove copies of ads it had previously banned due to policy violations, according to the analysis.
Franklin said Meta uses a variety of automated approaches to detect and remove duplicate ads. This includes training systems to recognize the images and videos used in previously removed ads in order to prevent them from running again. It also looks at a variety of signals, including user and payment information and the devices used to access accounts, to restrict or ban people who break its rules, she said.
Two ads run by the Patriot Democracy network falsely promised government subsidy checks. Credit: Screenshots by ProPublica
One of the most popular lures used by Patriot Democracy and other networks is the promise of free government cash.
More than 30,000 ads across the networks identified by ProPublica and Tow falsely claimed that nearly all Americans could receive government subsidies or are eligible for a “FREE Health Insurance Program.” People who clicked were often directed to unethical insurance agents who altered their existing ACA plan details or signed them up for plans they weren’t eligible for, pocketing a commission in the process. These ads were shown to users at least 38 million times.
The scheme has caused victims to lose their existing ACA health insurance or to be hit with unexpected tax bills from the IRS. In those cases, the agent falsely reported a lower income to enroll clients and secure a commission. In response to the surgein fraudulent enrollments, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency that administers the ACA, implemented stricter rules this summer for insurance agents.
A CMS spokesperson declined to comment on specific ads or platforms. But insurance marketers and other industry experts told ProPublica that Facebook ads are a scammer’s preferred method for ensnaring victims. Meta declined to comment on whether it’s in touch with CMS.
“It’s clear from speaking with a lot of different consumers that were ripped off that the Facebook ads played a big part,” said Jason Doss, an Atlanta lawyer who filed a class-action suit against a group of companies and individuals who allegedly used online ads, high-pressure insurance call centers and other methods to commit mass ACA enrollment fraud. The companies have moved to dismiss the case, citing a lack of jurisdiction and failure to show that any laws were broken, among other defenses. “We deny the allegations made and will be defending the case,” the CEO of one company named in the suit told ProPublica. The suit is ongoing.
Since 2021, Google has required U.S. health insurance advertisers to verify their identity and license status prior to running ads. Meta does not have this requirement. The company did not respond to questions about health insurance advertisers.
Taking on a Network
Meta’s failure to stop deceptive ads about government programs has forced some state and local officials to step in.
In January 2023, investigators in the Alaska Division of Insurance received complaints from consumers who said they were shown misleading ads on Facebook.
The ads used the state seal of Alaska and in some cases a photo of the governor to falsely claim that the state was offering new funeral and burial benefits. “The State of Alaska approved NEW affordable Funeral programs, designed to cover 100% final expenses up to 25,000 or more. Not just a portion,” read one ad.
As with other types of deceptive ads, the burial ads tricked people into filling out a form. In this case, they often ended up on the phone with someone trying to sell life insurance.
Alex Romero, Alaska’s chief insurance investigator, was alarmed. There weren’t any “new” state benefits. It’s also illegal in Alaska, and just about every state, to use a state seal without permission.
Searching the Meta Ad Library, he found hundreds of deceptive ads that used state seals. Romero warned his fellow state insurance investigators on a scheduled conference call soon after his discovery. “There was a proliferation of advertising using the same deceptive marketing,” Romero told ProPublica.
Around the same time, officials in Ventura County, California, were alerted to the unauthorized use of its county seal in Facebook ads. A local news outlet sent the county examples of burial insurance ads that used the Ventura County seal. Tiffany North, the county counsel, began an inquiry. She and Romero connected last spring and realized the same person was connected to the Facebook ads: a lead-generation marketer and insurance broker named Abel Medina.
Officials in Alaska and Ventura County, California, were alarmed by ads that used their seals without permission.Credit: Screenshots by ProPublica
Public records show that Medina, 35, owns companies such as Heartwork Global and Kontrol LLC, which have run election and social issues ads on several Facebook pages.
Romero said his research showed that Kontrol LLC was a key source of Facebook ads with state seals and images of governors. “Practically every state, a bunch of counties, several cities, they’re all getting tagged by this guy Medina,” he said.
Corporate records show that Final Expense Authority LLC is registered to Tiffani Panyanouvong, a 24-year-old former insurance broker. She told ProPublica that Medina registered the entity in her name without her permission when they were dating.
American Benefits & Services LLC is registered in Delaware and does not publicly list an owner. Panyanouvong said that Medina used that company and Final Expense Authority to run ads on Meta and that she “had nothing to do with his lead-generation services.”
“This is all because of him, and I was just his girlfriend at the time,” Panyanouvong told ProPublica in a WhatsApp message. “And he used me as another person to hide behind to get through the Facebook advertising loop holes.”
On his LinkedIn profile, Medina touts his Facebook ad expertise. He says he generated “$1.6 Million in sales in under eight months with only Facebook Final Expense Media Buying and growing other verticals.”
He’s also teaching others how to do it — for a fee. His profile points to a website, Scale Kontrol, which promises to help clients create a “cash cow advertising machine” by using Facebook ads to generate customer leads. The site also assures customers that it knows “work arounds” to avoid having ads “flagged, banned, restricted.”
Medina did not respond to phone messages or to a detailed list of questions sent to three email addresses, his Facebook account and a home address.
ProPublica and Tow found that the four companies have operated at least 40 Facebook pages and spent $2.1 million on more than 21,000 election and issues ads. Thousands of ads reviewed by ProPublica and Tow across pages linked to the companies made deceptive claims and appeared to break one or more Meta rules.
A deceptive ad for car insurance falsely suggested that President Joe Biden was sending government checks to pay for gas. Credit: Screenshot by ProPublica
The pages used deepfake audio of Biden to make false claims about government subsidies, ran deceptive auto insurance ads that promoted nonexistent “Biden Gas Relief Checks” using images of a U.S. Treasury check, and falsely claimed that “The State has approved a NEW Mortgage Protection Plan that protects your home and family in the event of an unexpected tragedy.” No such state plan exists.
Prior to being contacted by ProPublica, Meta had removed about half of the pages. Ten pages connected to these companies ran ads in the last three months.
In March 2023, North sent a cease-and-desist letter to Final Expense Authority. “Your use of the County’s official seal and your actions in misleading the public are unauthorized and unlawful,” she wrote.
The following month, Romero sent a similar letter to Medina, Panyanouvong and three of the companies. It cited five criminal and civil statutes that the state of Alaska believed they had violated and demanded they stop running ads with the state seal and images of the governor.
North and Romero said the ads with their respective seals stopped soon after the letters were sent. (Neither contacted Meta directly, telling ProPublica they focused on the companies running the ads.)
Final Expense Authority, the company registered to Panyanouvong, is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Monterey County district attorney’s office over its use of the California county’s seal. Emily Hickok, Monterey County’s chief deputy district attorney, confirmed the investigation to ProPublica and said her office reported the ads to Meta in February. She declined to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation.
Panyanouvong’s California insurance license was revoked in January. An attorney for the state Department of Insurance cited the use of Ventura County and Alaska seals in ads, among other alleged violations, state records show. Due to a prior criminal conviction for petty theft, records show that in 2019 Medina received a California insurance license on a probationary basis. It has been inactive since last November. He holds an active license in Texas.
The California Department of Insurance declined to comment on any investigations into the companies. “While we do not comment on open investigations, deceptive advertising on social media platforms can be a cause for licensing action or criminal prosecution,” it said in a statement to ProPublica.
Meta removed all of the active pages linked to the four companies after ProPublica and Tow shared them. It declined to say whether it had taken additional action. But as recently as early October, an ad from American Benefits & Services offered $100K to homeowners: “Claim cash back with these new home owners benefits programs that just became available.”
Still Locked Out
After ProPublica emailed Klotz, the meteorologist, in August to ask about the ads running via his page, his employer, Fox News, contacted Meta to get the ads removed and to restore his access. His verified page continued running ads promising easy money to Americans until early October. As of this week, he still doesn’t have access to his page.
“As far as I know the account is still hacked and in their control,” Klotz said.
Methodology
The pages and networks included in this investigation were identified by searching Meta’s Ad Library for keywords including “benefits,” “subsidy,” “stimulus,” “$6400” and “burial.” The initial keywords were chosen based on examples sourced from reports, FTC investigations and lawsuits. Each page added to the initial seed set was vetted by viewing its ads, advertiser disclaimer information, and page content and manager information.
Using this initial set, we expanded the list of keywords based on ads run by the pages and by searching the Ad Library for websites that the ads linked to. We then used the Ad Library Report interface to identify all pages for each advertiser. We also looked for pages that ran ads using the same advertiser disclaimer information.
Patriot Democracy
In the case of the Patriot Democracy network, we connected the pages and ads together via three domains that were used in “paid for by” ad disclaimers: informedempowerment.com, tacticalempowerment.com and patriotdemocracy.com. The disclaimers that used these domains often used the same phone numbers or addresses. Additionally, a Domain Name System analysis showed that all three domains resided on the same server.
Two new cases of a more-infectious strain of mpox have been detected in the UK, health officials have said.
The new cases come after the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) announced at the end of last month that a single case of Clade 1b mpox had been detected in the country.
The Clade 1b strain is associated with a more severe disease and higher mortality rates than Clade 2.
Two new cases of mpox have been identified in the UK. (Hakan Nural/Getty)
Both new UK patients were household contacts of the original patient and are receiving specialist care at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, in London.
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Professor Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser at UKHSA, said: “The overall risk to the UK population remains low. We are working with partners to make sure all contacts of the cases are identified and contacted, to reduce the risk of further spread.”
When the first UK case of the Clade Ib strain was announced, health secretary Wes Streeting praised the doctors and nurses treating the patient and said the government was “working alongside UKHSA and the NHS to protect the public and prevent transmission”, adding: “This includes securing vaccines and equipping healthcare professionals with the guidance and tools they need to respond to cases safely.
“We are also working with our international partners to support affected countries, to prevent further outbreaks.”
Mpox is a viral infection transmitted through close contact such as sex, touch, talking, or breathing close to another person, and is part of the smallpox family of viruses. Sufferers will often get a rash, along with other symptoms such as high temperature, swollen glands and chills.
The rash can go through several stages, beginning as raised spots that turn into small blisters filled with fluid that will eventually form scabs and fall off.
A new study conducted by the California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Centers (CHPRC) explores the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots to aid in HIV prevention efforts. The research led by Marisa Fujimoto at UC Berkeley and the Northern California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center is titled “Evaluating AI Chatbots for HIV Prevention: An Assessment of Response Quality and User Tailoring” and examines the ability of AI-driven chatbots to deliver accurate, engaging, and personalized health information to people from groups affected by HIV and community-based organizations. More information is available at www.chprc.org.
As healthcare increasingly turns to digital solutions, this study provides critical insights into how AI can be leveraged to address HIV prevention in communities that may face barriers to traditional healthcare access. The research assesses not only the technical performance of these chatbots but also how well they cater to individual needs, offering an evaluation of both response quality and user-tailoring in a public health context.
Key Findings Include:
High Response Accuracy, but Variable Clarity: AI chatbots can provide HIV prevention information and guidance that is accurate and neutral in tone across a wide range of HIV prevention topics, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). However, some responses had a disjointed flow, lacked clear conclusions, and/or did not follow current best practices for use of non-stigmatizing HIV language.
Personalized Engagement: Chatbots successfully simplified their responses when asked, but they largely did not tailor their responses to the needs of specific populations, such as transgender users or users in specific locations.
Opportunities for Integration with Existing Public Health Services: When responses are reviewed and tailored by health professionals, AI chatbots may be a valuable tool for community-based organizations to enhance the efficiency and quality of service provision and to support the development of educational materials.
“New and innovative ways to enhance HIV care and prevention efforts are needed, especially to reach younger, tech-savvy groups who may turn to digital solutions for health information,” said Marisa Fujimoto, the study’s lead author. “Based on our results, we are cautiously optimistic about the use of AI chatbots for HIV prevention by individuals from communities affected by HIV, community organizations, and health providers. Chatbots are capable of providing reasonably accurate information with few access barriers and could be used best in conjunction with advice from health professionals to optimize information and provide referrals to services.
Nevertheless, our research also raises important questions about how to ensure that AI chatbots provide inclusive guidance that addresses the needs of communities disproportionately affected by HIV, like those seeking gender-affirming care.”
The research, funded by the California HIV/AIDS Research Program through the University of California Office of the President, was led by Marisa Fujimoto, Lauren Hunter, and Sandra McCoy from the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, alongside Simon Outram and Laura Packel from the University of California, San Francisco.
About California HIV Policy Research Centers Three collaborative California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Centers, funded by the California HIV/AIDS Research Program, support research and policy analysis that addresses critical issues related to HIV/AIDS care and prevention in California. The work of the research centers focuses on a “rapid response,” which involves short-term research projects designed to quickly address questions that emerge in a dynamic health policy environment.
California Center for HIV Syndemic Policy Research The California Center for HIV Syndemic Policy Research (CalCenSyn) is led by Dr. Laramie Smith (UCSD) and Dr. Orlando Harris (UCSF). CalCenSyn seeks to expose the root causes of HIV and syndemic conditions through community-focused capacity building. such as tobacco, substance use, and socio-structural barriers to treatment through its community-academic collaborative.
Southern California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center The Southern California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center, led by Dr. Ian Holloway (UCLA) and Dr. Jamila Stockman (UCSD), celebrated a successful year of collaboration. Their collective work includes academic manuscripts, policy briefs, infographics, conference presentations, consultations with the California Board of Pharmacy, and has garnered additional state and federal funding. In 2024, the Center is examining the implementation of the California Healthy Youth Act, California’s comprehensive sex education law; the intersection of HIV and intimate partner violence; and strategies to implement integrated HIV prevention and treatment services, especially for women experiencing violence.
Northern California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center The Northern California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center is led by Dr. Emily Arnold (UCSF), Dr. Sandra McCoy (UCB), and Laura Thomas (San Francisco AIDS Foundation). In 2024, the Northern California HIV/AIDS Policy Research Center is planning to examine the impact of staffing shortages on the HIV healthcare system and is looking forward to working collaboratively with the other PRC on rapid response research addressing syndemic factors that contribute to HIV in California.
UnderFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the Sunshine State in recent years saw a rapid slate of anti-trans policies implemented. Now three transgender candidates are pursuing seats in the Florida legislature.
Trans womanAshley Brundage and trans manNathan Bruemmer, both Democrats, are taking on Republican incumbents in the Tampa Bay area. Meanwhile, trans womanVance Ahrens, also a Democrat, will challenge one of the greatest sources of anti-transgender rhetoric in the state, running against Florida Rep. Randy Fine for an open seat in the Florida Senate.
All face varying challenges on the campaign trail but earned spots on the November 5 general ballot. The hope is that the next time the Florida legislature convenes and considers taking rights away from transgender Floridians, lawmakers will have to do so with a transgender member on the floor for any vote.
“It would change systematically the entire way the House of Representatives and the entire political operation operates here,” Brundage said. “When you are not at the table with a seat, you are on the menu.”
Brundage, theDemocratic nominee against Republican Florida Rep. Karen Gonzalez Pittman in House District 65, may be the trans candidate in Florida with the best shot at winning her election. Both she and Bruemmer, who is challenging Republican Florida Rep. Linda Chaney in House District 61, were named to the Florida Democratic Party’sTake Back Florida Distinction Programroster.Equality Florida endorsed both House candidates and Ahrens, and lists the House races as priority contests this fall.
Brundage said the slew of hateful policies emanating from Tallahassee increased her political engagement, but a more personal slight ultimately prompted her to file for office. That started when the Florida legislature waged attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, including an attempt to stop DEI consulting even in private companies. Brundage served as a PNC national vice president on diversity and inclusion and felt her entire career threatened by the policies. She decided to run for the House.
The threat to her livelihood also prompted Brundage to write a book,Empowering Differences, that earned a Spirit of Community Award from the Florida Commission on the Status of Women and even led to a congratulations letter from DeSantis. But the governor’s office later told the Daily Mail the award would never have been issued if he realized Brundage was transgender. The letter was retracted, and DeSantis did not attend the ceremony where Brundage received the award.
But he did show up to sign Florida’s “don’t say gay” law at a school Brundage’s son attends. “At first I thought, Wow, this guy has nothing better to do but show up in my life,” Brundage said. “Then I realized he had a targeted agenda for schools and was making investments in politicizing school boards.”
Bruemmer’s history in politics goes back farther. He served as president of theFlorida LGBTQ Democratic Caucus before filing for the seat and has worked for years with Equality Florida on training candidates for office. When he saw the prospect of a competitive House race in his own backyard, he decided to file for office himself this year.
It was a late decision. Bruemmer in fact was in Washington attending an event at Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence celebrating Pride and sent some of his paperwork to Florida from D.C. in order to qualify. But like many candidates, he found the change in rhetoric coming from Republican lawmakers had been shocking in recent years.
“Chaney has been lockstep with the DeSantis administration’s priorities, which we now call ‘culture wars,’ instead of solving real problems Floridians need solved,” Bruemmer said.
There may be no greater avatar for that than Fine, a Republican Florida Representative who alarmed LGBTQ+ advocates nationwide when he promised to “eradicate” transgender people. He made the controversial statement after sponsoring a bill widely interpreted as a ban on drag performances in venues open to children.
“If it means ‘erasing a community’ because you have to target children — then, damn right, we ought to do it!” Fine said in 2023.
Ahrens knows she has an uphill fight taking on Fine in Florida Senate District 19, a deep red area on the Atlantic Coast. But she couldn’t let his rhetoric go unaddressed.
“When I saw that he was running, I was already doing work with Equality Florida, and I had already gone up to testify to the medical board on issues,” Ahrens said. “I knew from his social media posts he was coming full out for transgender people in the 2023 legislature, and he did.”
Fine pushed a ban on trans health services for youth, which DeSantis signed into law, and he continually stated from the floor that transgender people were being deceived into a corrupt ideology.
But of note, all of the trans candidates for the Florida legislature have focused more on the issues being ignored by the legislature than the anti-trans rhetoric. Most notably, a homeowner’s insurance crisis became magnified as three hurricanes hit Florida’s Gulf Coast in as many months this year.
The candidates on that front appear to be following a strategy forged by Virginia Sen. Danica Roem, whoin 2017 became the first out trans legislator in the nation, first in the House of Delegates, later in the Senate.. Roem, while facing sharply anti-trans rhetoric from her opponent, focused on infrastructure and other pocketbook issues for voters.
“I’m proud to be somebody standing up for all Floridians, not just trans Floridians,” Bruemmer said.
But each also sees a value in having a voice in the room that understands the challenges faced by transgender people and the harm directed by recent policies. “I think like every trans person, my goal is just to pass and live authentically as myself, and not necessarily to have the disclaimer that I am a trans woman,” Ahrens said.
None of the candidates have consulted closely with Roem. Ahrens did meet Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr at an event in Orlando and has worked with her on activation efforts with a Brevard County political group.
Despite the rhetoric of online bigots, the Florida candidates haven’t seen as much overtly anti-trans campaign rhetoric as Roem faced just seven years ago. Ahrens said Fine has refused to debate her and appears to be largely ignoring her candidacy. Bruemmer had one voter want to debate Florida’s trans sports ban at the door.
Brundage has seen personal attacks. She took offense at a political mailer superimposing a picture of her in a bikini over a hurricane, a piece that landed in mailboxes as Brundage helped clean up her mother’s home after Hurricane Helene flooded neighborhoods around Tampa Bay. But she does suspect misleading mailers about her positions on certain issues build on assumptions about her transgender identity. She takes issue, for example, with insinuations she wants “biological men in sports with girls.” “I just think we should leave sports and those decisions to people who get paid to measure estrogen and testosterone,” Brundage said.
At the moment, Florida has just one out LGBTQ+ member in each of the chambers. Shevrin Jones, a gay man, was elected as the firstout Florida senator, while Rep. MicheleRayner, a lesbian, is the only current out LGBTQ+ member of the Florida House. When Rayner first won her seat, the House had three out lawmakers, Jones and two who since were voted out. One, Jennifer Webb, wasdefeated by Chaney.
Bruemmer feels somewhat discouraged by the evolution of LGBTQ+ issues under DeSantis. In the governor’s first year in office, he spoke little of LGBTQ+ topics, and legislation like Florida’s Competitive Workforce Act, prohibiting workplace discrimination for gay and transgender people boasted wide bipartisan support. DeSantis eventually implemented much of that bill administratively.
But things shifted as DeSantis started to run for president, and as social conservatives nationwide decided they needed a new bogeyman after Americans embraced marriage equality, trans people appeared to be the issue.
Now the candidates see a need for more trans voiced in the capitol, and not just testifying in front of committees. It could prompt discussions as simple as who can use which restrooms in the House, public facilities governed by a bathroom bill DeSantis signed last year, and what gender appears on IDs for lawmakers.
“Obviously, just me getting elected will change the way they have conversations,” Brundage said. “Ron DeSantis’s neck will be hurting in every room he moves into checking to see if I’m in the room, He will have to do that even in the bathroom.”
A well-known British TERF and two accomplices staged a provocative “silent” protest at two London pubs Friday night, stoking resentment among weekenders simply looking to get a drink.
It did not end well.
“We’re going now,” a police officer told Jean Hatchet, organizer of the anti-trans action, as displeased patrons fled the premises. “You can either make your own way out or I’ll help you out.”
Hatchet’s night on the town began at one bar where she and her two friends set up three small signs reading “TRANSWOMEN ARE MEN,” “NO MEN IN SPORTS – IT’S NOT SAFE + NOT FAIR,” and “A MAN IN A DRESS IS A MAN IN A DRESS.”
And they waited to see what would happen.
‘The idea was to see reactions in a normal bar on truthful statements about the reality of sex versus the nefarious gender,” Hatchet recounted in one of multiple posts about the self-aggrandizing action. “We weren’t saying anything. We weren’t giving our views out loud. We just wondered what people would do if they looked at a quiet truth written on boards.”
Hatchet claimed she had supporters among the unsuspecting Friday night patrons whom she imposed her views on. “A man came up to say he agreed with them,” she recounted.
There were “curious looks, some photos taken from a distance” at the first bar, she said. Then a “middle-aged man at the side of us got up and called us ‘disgusting’ and ‘transphobes.’”
Hatchet took it in stride and moved her protest to another bar, next door.
“Different crowd,” Hatchet said of her second target. “Non-binary feelz on the bar staff.”
The three women set up their signs again, this time in front of a large screen TV showing a football game — a noisy gesture despite not “giving our views out loud.”
That’s when the bar manager approached to say he’d heard complaints; the women needed to take their signs down. They refused.
Minutes later, the three got the Posie Parker treatment and were doused in ketchup the same way the notorious British TERF was while on her hate tour of New Zealand last year.
“I don’t know if it was the same man,” Hatchet reported, “I think it was, came back over as we sat trying to clean clothes a bit and recover ourselves. He threw a drink at us. And ran off again. At this point the police arrived. A group of women behind had been calling us b***hes. It got loud.”
At that point, Hatchet started recording, as police asked them to leave the building over their protests that they’d been “assaulted”.
“Outside we were told that we were the aggressors. That we had thrown tomato ketchup. That we had thrown drinks. We were the ones covered in tomato ketchup and drinks,” Hatchet said of the group’s interaction with police.
A look at Hatchet’s video tells a different story of police trying to diffuse a fraught situation. Cops told Hatchet they didn’t know who the aggressors were, or at least they weren’t saying. Badge numbers were recorded.
“There’re going to be at least two sides of the story,” the lead officer reasoned with Hatchet.
“We didn’t do anything,” Hatchet replied. “There are no two sides.”
Hatchet’s transphobia has made headlines before. As the Taliban was poised to take control in Afghanistan three years ago, she inserted herself into the conversation about women’s rights under the incoming authoritarian regime.
“When the Taliban force women to cover up how many men will want to identify as women?” she wrote on Twitter. “I’m curious. (I’m not really curious – I know).”
Despite significant spending by former President Donald Trump’s campaign and Republicans on anti-transgender ads, new research released Thursday by Ground Media shows that the ads are failing to influence voter preferences. However, these ads are succeeding in a different, more harmful way: They are eroding public support for transgender Americans and their rights.
Ground Media CEO David Rochkind told The Advocate in an interview that while the ads did not boost voter enthusiasm or mobilization for Trump, they did decrease public comfort with transgender people. “We found that there is a decrease of 3.1 percent among those folks who say they would be comfortable accepting a close friend or family member who is transgender,” Rochkind said. He also noted a 3.7 percent decline in support for gender-affirming care for transgender youth. “I find that incredibly damaging,” he added.
The ad in question portrays Vice PresidentKamala Harris as supporting taxpayer-funded gender-affirming surgeries for undocumented immigrants and prisoners, a point designed to inflame anti-transgender sentiment. It concludes with the divisive tagline “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you, and features prominent images of transgender figures within the Biden-Harris administration, including Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine.
The ad follows similar tactics seen in right-wing rhetoric, focusing on Harris’s support for gender-affirming care as evidence of her “extremism.” However, advocates and experts have pointed out that this framing is not based on a factual understanding of transgender rights or the legal obligations to provide health care in prisons. Rochkind explained that the ad leverages fear and misunderstanding by focusing on issues that most people have no personal connection to, like prisoners and gender-affirming health care. “In this ad, they try and find the thing that is most different from anything that the audience could possibly understand,” Rochkind said. He added that the ad plays on the fact that most people “don’t understand what it means to be a prisoner” or the specifics of gender-affirming health care, making it easier to incite fear and discomfort — sentiments of “It seems so odd, it seems so different, I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that,” Rochkind explained.
GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis emphasized these ads’ negative impact on public discourse. “Tens of millions of dollars are being spent on ads that demonize and spread lies about transgender people, and it’s not earning one vote,” Ellis said.
Perhaps the most troubling finding from Ground Media’s study, which was released Thursday, was that the anti-trans ads reduced acceptance even among individuals who already knew a transgender person. “We think if you just knew somebody, you would get it, you would accept, you would get over everything — these ads push back on that,” Rochkind said. This backlash among potential allies highlights how powerful and harmful the narratives in these ads can be, especially when targeting groups already leaning toward acceptance of transgender individuals.
“After the election, trans Americans will have to deal with the dangerous fallout from the shameful lies and misinformation that far too many political candidates are intentionally spreading,” Ellis said.
Despite the harmful social impact, the ads have yet to succeed politically. Ground Media’s randomized controlled trial, which involved nearly 2,000 people, revealed no significant increase in support for Trump. “They’re not persuading people to vote for Trump,” Rochkind said, pointing out that the ads did not move the needle on voter choice, mobilization, or enthusiasm.
Transgender rights rank relatively low on the list of priorities for voters. According to a September Gallup survey, only 18 percent of registered voters consider candidates’ positions on transgender rights “extremely important” when deciding their vote for president. By comparison, 52 percent of voters rank the economy as “extremely important,” followed closely by democracy in the U.S. at 49 percent.
According to a separate survey conducted by Data for Progress, 54 percent of likely voters believe that political attack ads targeting the transgender community have become “mean-spirited and out of hand.” Voters, the survey suggests, are more concerned about core issues such as inflation and the economy than the divisive cultural battles around transgender rights.
While the ads are failing to achieve their intended political outcomes, they are leaving lasting scars on the social landscape. The decline in support for transgender rights, health care access, and acceptance — particularly among potential allies — presents a serious challenge for advocates fighting to protect and expand transgender rights in the United States.
Rochkind emphasized the importance of truthful storytelling in combating misinformation and disinformation. In partnership with GLAAD, Ground Media has been working on campaigns like “Here We Are,” which focus on real stories of transgender people and their families. “We found that [these ads] increase acceptance, increase support for policy, and increase belief that being transgender is real,” he said.
The ads have been running in battleground states such as Michigan, Florida, and Texas, showcasing transgender Americans and their families, according to Ground Media. The campaign garnered 25 million impressions and 3 million video views in Michigan alone. Nadya Lopez, a transgender woman featured in one of the ads with her father, said, “Transgender people just want to live their lives free from fear … our lives are filled with joy, and we are not going anywhere.”
Leading travel guide Lonely Planet has unveiled its must-visit travel list for 2025, and the beautiful French city of Toulouse has taken the top spot for a city break.
The fifteenth edition of Lonely Planet’s “Best in Travel” hotlist just dropped and it features 30 trending destinations that you need to visit in the new year.
The 2025’s hotlist is focused on lesser-known “gems”, cities and regions and “fresh takes” on tourist hotspots around the globe as the debate about overtourism continues to rage.
Many popular destinations have introduced tourist taxes to mitigate the impact, including Amsterdam which plays host to 22 million overnight visitors a year, a figure that an increasing number of locals think is too high.
Topping Lonely Planet’s list of uncrowded hidden gem cities is Toulouse in France, with Pondicherry in India and Bansko in Bulgaria coming second and third, respectively. The list also includes cities in Italy and Brazil.
Lonely Planet’s best in travel 2025
Top 10 best cities, revealed
Toulouse, France
Pondicherry, India
Bansko, Bulgaria
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Genoa, Italy
Pittsburgh, USA
Osaka, Japan
Curitiba, Brazil
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Edmonton, Canada
Garonne river and Dome de la Grave in Toulouse, France (Getty)
The great news for LGBTQ+ travellers is that Toulouse is an extremely queer-friendly destination to visit.
Appropriately known as the “Pink City” because of its distinctive architecture pinkish-orange terracotta bricks and ochre rooftops, Toulouse is a haven for LGBTQ+ visitors, with a thriving gay scene.
LGBTQ+ bars and clubs are mostly located in the city centre within walking distance of the Place du Capitole, including Limelight: a lively and friendly club that runs regular theme nights and events.
There’s also popular feminist/queer bar La Gougnotte, which hosts an incredible drag king show as well as a wide range of other LGBTQ+ friendly events throughout the year.
Other things to do in Toulouse
Architecturally and visually, Toulouse is an Instagram-lovers dream. The Place du Capitole, mentioned above, is the heart of the city and a good starting out point for a day of exploring. One side is taken up with the neoclassical 128m-long façade of the Capitole, Toulouse’s city hall, built in the early 1750s.
If you fancy soaking up a bit of culture before you hit the cocktails, you can take tours of the interior – including the spectacular late-19th-century Salle des Illustres, decorated by famous artists.
The historic Basilica Saint-Sernin is another place you’ll definitely snap an iconic photo; you can climb the tower and see an amazing view across the city’s russet-coloured rooftops like the one at the top of this article.
Another must-see location is the stunning Couvent des Jacobins, one of the city’s oldest and most famous buildings, with its seven-story octagonal bell tower, beautiful courtyard garden and a palm tree-shaped vaulted ceiling. It’s a real oasis in the heart of a busy and bustling city.
Le Couvent des Jacobins (Getty)
Speaking of gardens, the Jardin Japonais Toulouse is another truly stunning spot. It’s a great place for couples to take a romantic walk. One recent review on TripAdvisor says: “Had a lovely stroll through this beautiful and well-maintained garden on a sunny Sunday. Free to enter. Lovely trees and flowers, lots of shady benches and little trails to explore. Koi the size of cats! And a little snack place with good ice cream and artisanal beers.”
And if the streams and koi ponds in the Jardin Japonais aren’t enough for you, another fun water activity is to book a sightseeing cruise and set sail on the beautiful river Garonne, which runs right through Toulouse.
You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to food and drink in Toulouse. As talking candlestick Lumière once famously said in Beauty and the Beast: “After all, this is France, and the dinner here is never second-best.”
If you want a fine dining experience, the Michelin guide-listed restaurant Les Sales Gosses should probably be on your radar. Its name translates as “little brats” and the good news is the prices won’t decimate your bank account. It offers a lunch menu where you can get three courses of fancy French fare for €29.
There are plenty of places to indulge your sweet tooth as well, like Crêperie Le Menhir. This restaurant has a mind-boggling array of savoury galettes and sweet pancakes w on offer, with prices starting at just €4.
Vegetarians and vegans are well catered for in Toulouse, despite the myth that France isn’t as vegan-friendly as other European countries. There are an impressive 89 veggie/vegan-friendly restaurants in the city, including BRÛLÉ, a highly-rated vegan coffee shop selling home-made pastries, lunch and brunch.
So, what are you waiting for? Get your queer, vegan, feminist selves to Toulouse in 2025 for some pastries, a drag king show and a romantic boat trip on the Garonne river.
As National Retirement Security Week begins, we’re sharing the results of MAP’s new study, which compares Bankrate’s recent analysis to our publicly available data on state policy to illustrate how state retirement rankings can change dramatically when you consider laws and policies that shape the lives and experiences of LGBTQ people.
A recent study by Bankrate, a personal financial services review site, looked at the best and worst states to retire and based their rankings on five factors: affordability, well-being, quality and cost of health care, weather, and crime. Their general recommendation emphasized in the New York Timesarticle featuring their analysis? “Head South.”
This suggestion may be fitting for those over 65 whose decision on where to live is mainly powered by cost of living and warm temps, but for the 2.7 million LGBTQ people ages 50 and over, other factors — like what rights a state affords or denies LGBTQ people — likely matter just as much, if not more. Including even a minimal consideration of a state’s treatment of LGBTQ people would result in a different ranking of states all together.MAP’s research team decided to compare Bankrate’s analysis to our publicly available data on state policy to illustrate how state rankings can change dramatically when you incorporate laws and policies that shape the lives and experiences of LGBTQ people. Our findings show strikingly different results and highlight a very different set of considerations for LGBTQ adults deciding where to spend their golden years.As a trusted source for rigorous research and insight, MAP’s LGBTQ Equality Maps provide a detailed, real-time snapshot of the state of LGBTQ laws and policies in the United States. Our maps track over 50 policies which, when tallied together, produce an overall LGBTQ policy score for each state. When comparing Bankrate’s state ranking to our tallies, two datapoints are immediately clear:70% of Bankrate’s ten highest ranked states receive a negative or low overall LGBTQ policy tally (MAP’s two lowest categories).
70% of Bankrate’s ten lowest ranked states receive a high overall LGBTQ policy tally (MAP’s highest category).MAP’s team then took it a step further, attempting to replicate Bankrate’s study by using the information included in their article. This attempt produced different results than Bankrate published, even before including LGBTQ policies. When MAP contacted Bankrate for clarification, Bankrate refused to share their complete data and methodology, so making a direct comparison or replication was impossible.
However, based on the limited data and methods Bankrate described in their original article, MAP followed a similar approach using the same factors and adding in our own state-level LGBTQ policy data — data which is freely available for others to use. Making minimal adjustments to Bankrate’s approach, our findings illustrate how dramatically the rankings can change with even a basic level of consideration of LGBTQ policies.As shown in the weight comparison chart below, MAP adjusted Bankrate’s weighting of affordability and weather to allow for the consideration of LGBTQ policies. These policies, which themselves can dramatically affect LGBTQ people’s overall quality of life, include one’s ability to afford or access housing and public places like parks, libraries, and senior centers (e.g. nondiscrimination law), access to affirming health care (e.g. insurance nondiscrimination), and protections against crime (e.g. hate crimes law), among many others.
By acknowledging the policy factors that directly impact quality of life and more for LGBTQ older adults and weighing these policies equitably with other key issues, we obtain a drastically different list of best and worst states for retirement. For example, only one of Bankrate’s original top 10 states maintained a spot on MAP’s top 10 list (Delaware), and two of Bankrate’s original worst 10 states are among MAP’s best list (California and Colorado).
At the end of the day, deciding where to relocate after retirement is a uniquely personal decision with dozens of variables to consider. But for many, the risk of discrimination, lack of fully inclusive protections, and slew of harmful and exclusionary laws make some states an impossible choice, no matter how perfect the weather.
To schedule an interview with a MAP researcher or for questions, please contact Dana Juniel at dana@mapresearch.org.
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About MAP: MAP’s mission is to provide independent and rigorous research, insight and communications that help speed equality and opportunity for all. MAP works to ensure that all people have a fair chance to pursue health and happiness, earn a living, take care of the ones they love, be safe in their communities, and participate in civic life. www.mapresearch.org
