News

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Missouri voters roundly reject trans fearmongering, vote down abortion ban

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Missouri voters have rejected an amendment that would have reversed reproductive rights protections they adopted in 2024 and placed restrictions on transgender minors’ medical care in the state constitution. The Associated Press called Amendment 3’s defeat Tuesday, with opposition exceeding 55 percent of the vote. The result preserves constitutional protections for abortion and defeats Republican lawmakers’ effort to undo them by pairing an abortion ban with restrictions on transgender healthcare. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. The defeat does not repeal Missouri’s existing restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors. It prevents […]

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Harmeet Dhillon, anti-LGBTQ+ lawyer in DOJ Civil Rights Division, resigns. Queers celebrate.

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Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, resigned on Thursday. LGBTQ+ people are celebrating, as she used her office to persecute schools and organizations that supported transgender-inclusion as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts. “Today, I accepted the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Civil Rights Division with conviction the past 18 months,” US Attprney General Blanche wrote in a post on X. “She has defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor. The Department is grateful for her […]

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Florida Elects Republican who allegedly called for LGBTQ+ people to be executed

Florida voters have elected Republican Marshall Rawson to the state House, after reporting linked him to the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville and alleged posts calling for the execution of LGBTQ+ people. Rawson, 34, won a seat in Florida’s House of Representatives on Tuesday, defeating Democrat Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson. He won with 68.15 per cent of the vote, reports Decision Desk HQ. A state House seat can shape education, healthcare and civil rights policy that directly affects LGBTQ+ residents, and Rawson’s win has renewed attention on allegations about his past.  What has been alleged about Rawson’s posts and ties? A Talking […]

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Newly elected nonbinary politician Bentley Hudgins announces ‘Woke 3.0 has commenced’

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When right-wing media goes low, trans people go funnier!  Nonbinary Georgia state rep. Bentley Hudgins made history after winning an assembly seat — and conservatives are (unsurprisingly) losing it.  Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. On November 5, End Wokeness, a right wing X account, made a post lamenting their victory as Georgia’s first nonbinary and transgender state representative. Attempting to somehow make a joke by just stating a fact, the End Wokeness account posted a video of Hudgins talking about their historic win.  “Good news, Georgia!” End […]

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Meet the weed-growing transgender daughter of immigrants who just made Florida electoral history

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A cannabis worker and daughter of immigrants just won election as Florida’s first out transgender elected official. Quinnie Perez, a trans woman, was the top vote-getter in a three-person race for a relatively low-profile post on Orange County’s Soil and Water Conservation District. The race attracted little attention before Tuesday, but Perez’s historic victory brought a flood of media requests Wednesday. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. “Like, my phone was quiet, and then the next moment, it’s nonstop,” Perez told The Advocate. “Like, my Instagram is barely functional now […]

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Alabama Gay Sheriff-Elect Vows To End Flock Contract

The Washington Post reports: In the blue tide overtaking the country this week, Alabama voters elected the first openly gay sheriff. Democrat Brett Jones, in Madison County, defeated a two-term Republican incumbent to take over the law enforcement role. Jones is a former Navy SEAL who wrote a 2014 book about his experience of being gay in the military called “Pride: The Story of the First Openly Gay Navy SEAL.” Jones, a police officer at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, campaigned on transparency, jail reform and discontinuing the county’s contract with Flock, the controversial license plate reader system that has sparked widespread […]

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Lesbian combat veteran Cait Conley unseats Republican Mike Lawler in New York U.S. House race

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New York voters have elected Cait Conley to Congress, sending a lesbian Army combat veteran who served under “don’t ask, don’t tell” to Washington and flipping a Republican-held House seat. Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler conceded to Conley late Tuesday in New York’s 17th Congressional District, ending his bid for a third term in one of the country’s closely watched House contests. Conley accepted his concession and delivered a victory speech that night. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. Lawler acknowledged that outstanding ballots in Westchester County would leave him […]

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Democrat Ousts Anti-LGBTQ Kansas Attorney General

The New York Times reports: Kris W. Kobach, Kansas’ Republican attorney general, helped to make claims of widespread illegal voting a potent political issue years before President Trump became the party’s leader. But Mr. Kobach was denied another term by voters, The Associated Press reported. The result demonstrated both how Kansas and Mr. Kobach’s own trajectory have shifted since he crashed onto the national political landscape more than 20 years ago. Chris Mann, a Democrat who has worked as a police officer and prosecutor, defeated Mr. Kobach, marking the first time in 20 years that Kansans have elected a Democrat as attorney […]

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LGBTQ Voters Find New Hope as Red States Turn Blue

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Lifelong Kansan Lucas Ryan, 29, says he has watched in horror as his home state has grown increasingly hostile toward gay and transgender residents over the past decade. “It’s been terrible for my mental health; it’s been brutal,” Ryan, who is pansexual, told Uncloseted Media. In the four most recent legislative sessions, Kansas lawmakers proposed 41 anti-LGBTQ state bills and passed seven into law, according to an American Civil Liberties Union tally. Earlier this year, Republicans overrode a veto by Kansas’ Democratic governor in order to pass into law a measure invalidating driver’s licenses that do not reflect a person’s sex […]

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Scott Wiener elected San Francisco’s first out gay member of Congress as Pelosi-backed rival concedes

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California state Sen. Scott Wiener is poised to become the first out gay person to represent San Francisco in Congress after his Democratic rival, city Supervisor Connie Chan, conceded Wednesday evening in the race to succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Wiener led Chan 55.46 percent to 44.54 percent in Wednesday’s returns for California’s 11th Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ. Chan said she expected the margin to narrow as more ballots were counted, but her campaign’s review of the outstanding vote persuaded her to concede. Major news outlets had not yet called the race when she did. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ […]

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