National

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Mike Pence thinks transphobia will get him back in the White House

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Former US vice president Mike Pence has launched a list of policy suggestions ahead of the midterms and of course, plenty of them are anti-LGBT+. Pence recently published his “Freedom Agenda” –  his blueprint for Republicans to win future elections, which reads like a prelude to a 2024 run. It’s essentially a Republican bingo card, with everything from pulling taxpayer funding for abortions to banning “anti-American, racist ideologies like Critical Race Theory” in schools. Tightening border controls was also top of the list. And guns. A lot on guns, as well as stopping the government from “interfering with our First […]

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LGBTQ educators fear fallout from new FL school law

Last month, a group of parents in Orlando, Florida, demanded “consequences” against sixth grade science teacher Robert Thollander. His crime? Thollander acknowledged his marriage at school. “He married a man. This alone is not an issue. Sharing the details … with all his 6th grade students is the issue,” the parents wrote in a letter sent to their children’s school board, which was shared with NBC News. “It was not appropriate. Many of these students felt very uncomfortable with the conversations and shared this with their families.” Had Thollander just “said he will be out for a few days because […]

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Billboards across Florida encourage people to ‘say gay’

Billboards popping up in some of Florida’s largest cities are encouraging passersby to “say gay.” The massive roadside messages are a response to the state’s controversial Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed by critics the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law Monday. The measure prohibits “classroom instruction … on sexual orientation or gender identity” in “kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate.”  The billboards — now on display in Orlando, Tallahassee and Jacksonville — were spearheaded by the Southern Progress Political Action Committee, which, according to its website, […]

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Gay teacher unceremoniously fired for giving rainbow Pride bracelets to students

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A gay teacher in Ohio, United States, has spoken out after being fired for giving Pride bracelets to students, saying: “There is room at the table for everyone”. According to NBC15 News, Jay Bowman, who has worked as a teacher for 30 years, was wearing a rainbow-coloured Pride bracelet when several students asked about it. Speaking in an interview, Bowman said: “If a kid has questions, if a kid wants honesty, I don’t think I should be forbidden from providing that. “I don’t try to recruit anyone. The parents are responsible for the kids. The parents are the ones who need […]

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Students stage walkout over new school policy banning Pride flags

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A group of determined New Jersey students defiantly staged a walkout in protest against a new policy that stops them from flying an LGBT+ Pride flag.  About 40 students, some wearing kaleidoscopic coloured items, in Passaic, New Jersey, took to the streets on Monday (28 March) for the right to fly the Pride flag, NJ.com reported. The Passaic board of education recently enacted a policy that bans flag displays on school grounds with exceptions for the American flag, New Jersey state flag and school flags.  But students want to be able to raise the LGBT+ Pride flag. Several stood in front of the city’s […]

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Community rallies behind LGBTQ-run nonprofit after a fake volunteer tried to sabotage it

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A food distribution program run by an Iowa LGBTQ couple was almost sabotaged by a fake volunteer – but the community rallied to save the day. Every month, Together We Achieve holds a food box giveaway event in which it passes out over 1000 boxes of food to those in need. One person, however, decided to sign up for 10 volunteer slots with a “hateful email” that was reportedly intended to hurt the leaders of the organization. At the organization’s helm is couple Raymond Siddell and Matthew Salger. Fortunately, volunteers stepped in and filled the slots. “It’s just amazing when you […]

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Arizona governor signs bills limiting transgender rights, abortion

 Arizona’s Republican governor signed a series of bills Wednesday targeting abortion and transgender rights, joining a growing list of GOP-led states pursuing a conservative social agenda. The measures signed by Gov. Doug Ducey will outlaw abortion after 15 weeks if the U.S. Supreme Court allows it, prohibit gender confirmation surgery for minors and ban transgender girls from playing on girls sports teams. Bills targeting abortion and transgender rights have been popular with the conservative base in states where Republicans dominate but could be politically risky in a battleground state where Democrats have made significant inroads. The Arizona abortion legislation mirrors […]

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Spy agency chat rooms became a ‘dumpster fire’ of ‘racist, homophobic’ hate speech during the Trump years: report

Before Mike Pompeo served as secretary of state in the Trump Administration, he was director of the Central Intelligence Agency — a position he held from January 2017 to April 2018. According to Daily Beast reporters Jeff Stein and Howard Altman, it was during Trump’s first year in office and Pompeo’s months as CIA director that spy agency chat rooms first saw a major increase in hate speech. And it only got worse after that. The Beast journalists report, “Dan Gilmore, who worked in an administrative group overseeing internal chat rooms for the classified Intelink system for over a decade from […]

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DeSantis Signs “Don’t Say Gay” Bill Into Law

NPR reports: Public school teachers in Florida are now banned from holding classroom instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity after Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signed the controversial “Parental Rights in Education” bill. The bill, which some opponents have called “Don’t Say Gay,” was signed by DeSantis on Monday. It reads, “A school district may not encourage classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels.” But DeSantis was defiant in the face of critics, “I don’t care what Hollywood says. I don’t care what big corporations say. Here I stand. I am not backing down.” […]

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Arizona GOP votes to restrict transgender sports, operations

The Arizona Legislature passed bills Thursday to prohibit gender reassignment surgery for minors and ban transgender athletes from playing on girls sports teams, joining a growing list of Republican-controlled states attempting to restrict transgender rights as they gain more visibility in culture and society. Republican Gov. Doug Ducey has not said whether he will sign either bill. Two GOP governors this week bucked conservatives in their party and vetoed bills in Indiana and Utah requiring trans girls to play on boys sports teams. Republicans have said blocking transgender players from girls sports teams would protect the integrity of women’s sports, […]

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