Features

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Ohio board stands by disqualification of trans candidate, even though others are allowed to run

A county board in Ohio has refused to reconsider the disqualification of a transgender state House candidate who omitted her former name from circulating petitions, even as other transgender candidates have been cleared for the ballot. The Stark County Board of Elections said in a statement Friday that it stands by its decision to disqualify Vanessa Joy, a real estate photographer from Massillon, Ohio, because she did not put a name that no longer aligns with her gender identity — also referred to as a deadname — on the petitions used to gather signatures to get on the ballot. State law mandates that […]

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Grindr’s trans-inclusive filter angers gay rights activist: ‘Delete your service’

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A gay rights activist has criticised Grindr for its trans and nonbinary-inclusive filter. Currently, the dating app prevents users from searching solely for Cisgender men and women, the site explains. “It was important to us to not further perpetuate discrimination and harm for the trans and nonbinary community.” Instead, users can filter who they’d like to speak to on the app. The trans-inclusive filter details “three umbrella gender groups”: men, women and non-binary people. Fred Sargeant took to X (formerly Twitter) on 5 February to question the app’s filter. The app detailed its trans-inclusive filter in a frequently asked questions section of the […]

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Is it possible to be a happy gay Jew?

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The theater lights are about to dim at Prayer for the French Republic, a new Broadway play that tracks the journey of a Jewish family in Paris from World War II through the 2017 French presidential election and the country’s rise in antisemitism. My companion leans over and asks earnestly, “Why do the Jews get a country and no other religion?” Playwright Joshua Harmon’s cast of characters debates the question for nearly three hours, as do we over post-show cocktails. I suggest, perhaps with a bit of earnest strain in my voice, that it might have something to do with millennia of […]

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Detroit’s LGBTQ+ chamber of commerce is helping create a business renaissance

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Since he moved from Atlanta in 2012, Detroit native Kevin Heard has been devoted to one ambitious goal: creating opportunity for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs to succeed in the challenging business environment of Motor City. “I didn’t see or was aware of a professional LGBTQ community. I wanted to cultivate that,” Heard told The Detroit News. “I saw a need for organizations that have a fiscal responsibility, voice for and advocate for LGBT-owned businesses. I also felt as though it’s really important to possibly and intentionally curate an LGBT business district within the city of Detroit, like all major metropolitan areas across the […]

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New York pizzeria to pay $25,000 to settle harassment suit by transgender cook

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A pizza restaurant in upstate New York has agreed to pay a transgender former employee $25,000 and take other steps to settle a lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that alleged the worker was subjected to invasive personal questions and told he wasn’t “a real man.” Quinn Gambino, a trans man, was a cook at T.C. Wheelers Bar & Pizzeria in Tonawanda, which is near Buffalo. Beginning in January 2021, according to the suit, the owners repeatedly asked questions about his genitalia and transition procedures, such as “Does she have female parts?” They “also intentionally misgendered Gambino by using female pronouns (such […]

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The U.S. hasn’t seen syphilis numbers this high since 1950

The U.S. syphilis epidemic isn’t abating, with the rate of infectious cases rising 9% in 2022, according to a new federal government report on sexually transmitted diseases in adults. But there’s some unexpected good news: The rate of new gonorrhea cases fell for the first time in a decade. It’s not clear why syphilis rose 9% while gonorrhea dropped 9%, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, adding that it’s too soon to know whether a new downward trend is emerging for the latter. They are most focused on syphilis, which is less common than gonorrhea or chlamydia […]

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Experts say that gender-affirming care bans amount to ‘abuse.’ 

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A new article by doctors at the Seattle Children’s Hospital details exactly how bans on gender-affirming care for minors “amount to state-sanctioned medical neglect and emotional abuse.” The report, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is the latest piece of evidence demonstrating that restrictions on puberty blockers, hormones, and other care for transgender youth “deny children access to routine health care that has been shown to decrease dramatically high rates of suicide and depression.” Yet conservative state legislators are unrelenting. More than 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced across the U.S. in 2023, and 80 were passed into law, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Just weeks […]

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Church of England says a ‘profound disagreement’ remains on homosexuality

The Church of England’s governing body will debate adopting fresh commitments on homosexuality and same-sex couples when it meets later this month, it said on Friday, acknowledging that there remained “profound disagreement” on the matter. The Church of England — central to the Anglican Communion of 85 million believers across the world — does not allow same-sex marriage, standing by its teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman. However, the centuries-old institution has been wrestling with ways to make people in the LGBTQ community feel more inclusive in its churches, and it has apologized for the “hostile and […]

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Yet another passenger dies on world’s biggest gay cruise

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In a tragic development during the “world’s biggest gay festival at sea,” a passenger aboard the Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, chartered by Atlantis Events, unexpectedly died last week. Atlantis Events specializes in cruise vacations targeted at gay men. The death occurred during the Oasis Caribbean Cruise from January 21 to 28. The cruise originated and concluded in Miami. A spokesperson for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines confirmed the death in a statement to The Advocate. “I can confirm that we had a death onboard and that it was unexpected and not suspicious,” the spokesperson said.The details of the passenger’s death have not […]

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