National

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Illinois launches first-in-nation LGBTQ+ legal hotline

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Illinois Pride Connect will provide resources for health care, education, immigration, family services, elder services, and more, Pritzker said, both informing individuals of their rights and advocating for them. The organization will also host a hotline that can assist callers with legal issues, including but not limited to access to health care such as gender-affirming care, discrimination or harassment, public benefits like Medicaid or SNAP, identity documents, and housing or safety concerns. The website states: “If you’re an LGBTQIA+ individual (or a concerned family member or friend), and you’re facing legal issues that impact your health, safety, or access to care, we’re here to help. The […]

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At least 21 hospitals have ended or restricted trans care for minors since January

More than 20 hospitals and health systems have temporarily or indefinitely rolled back transgender care for minors and some young adults this year amid threats of federal investigations and cuts to government funding, an NBC News analysis found. Twelve hospitals have announced they have discontinued or will discontinue puberty blockers and hormone therapy for trans patients younger than 19. Four announced they are no longer providing transition-related surgeries to those patients; one said it discontinued gender-affirming care for teens; and four said they temporarily stopped transgender care for those under 19 after an executive order from President Donald Trump in January but resumed after a […]

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Lesbian Jillian Michaels complains on CNN that Smithsonian teaches ‘just one race’ is responsible for U.S. slavery

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What began as a discussion about President Donald Trump’s unprecedented takeover of the Kennedy Center Honors unraveled into a live-television free-for-all on CNN, veering in minutes from arts programming to slavery, white supremacy, and transgender athletes. On NewsNight, host Abby Phillip opened with the news that Trump had not only handpicked the 2025 honorees, boasting he was “98 percent involved,” but would also host the televised ceremony, a sharp break from decades of tradition in which presidents have sat in the balcony as spectators. “Usually when the honorees are announced, you don’t see the president doing a press conference at the Kennedy Center,” Phillip said. “It’s not […]

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LGBTQ Spaces Say ‘All Are Welcome.’ Asian Men Know Better

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Cody Seiya did not feel welcome in Provincetown. “Is that for yellow pride?” a man sneered at Seiya in the middle of Ptown’s tea dance, referring to a yellow bandanna he was wearing around his neck. It wasn’t the first time Seiya, a 33-year-old gay Asian American, had experienced racism from other queer men. Years earlier at Rage, a now-closed gay club in West Hollywood, another white man asked him what he was doing there. “It’s not Gameboi night,” the man said to him, referring to the Asian-themed weekly party the venue hosted. “That was really the first time that […]

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Florida judge strikes down state law used to ban books: ‘None of these books are obscene’

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A judge in Florida has sided with authors and publishers in a lawsuit against the state’s book ban, determining that the law violates free speech protections.  Judge Carlos Mendoza of the U.S. Middle District Court of Florida ruled Wednesday that “the removal of many of these books [is] unconstitutional,” noting that “many are classics, modern award winners, and tested on AP exams.” “None of these books are obscene,” Mendoza wrote. “The restrictions placed on these books are thus unreasonable in light of the purpose of school libraries. And if so, the presence of these books in school libraries certainly does not materially and substantially […]

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What’s At Stake at the Supreme Court in 2025-2026: Fast Facts

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Every year, the U.S. Supreme Court receives an estimated 8,000 requests — petitions, or “writs of certiorari” — to take up cases related to a number of constitutional questions affecting Americans and our lives. It only grants a small percentage of those and denies review to the overwhelming majority of cases, allowing lower court decisions to remain in place. (For example, in the 2024-2025 term, the Supreme Court agreed to hear just 65 cases — approximately 0.8% of all the requests it received.) In fall 2025, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear three cases affecting LGBTQ rights, regarding the constitutionality of allowing states […]

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Another Florida city will defy state direction to erase Pride-themed crosswalks

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Delray Beach officials will change course and leave a Pride-themed intersection in place despite threats from Florida officials. The move comes weeks after the city and other Florida municipalities initially announced plans to remove the rainbow colors from the roadways. The Florida municipality’s city manager, Terrence Moore, initially said the road décor would be sandblasted off after the Florida Department of Transportation issued guidance calling such Pride-themed infrastructure a safety concern. The state directive followed U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy publicly asserting rainbow crosswalks were “dangerous.” But Delray Beach Commissioner Rob Long at the next meeting of the city board said such a removal […]

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Gay boys and sex trafficking: An under-resourced epidemic

At 16 years old, Jose Alfaro remembers being trapped in a dimly lit room and told to give a naked stranger a massage and “let him do what he wants.” “I was terrified and I had a bodily reaction of tremor, just shaking uncontrollably,” Alfaro, now 34, told Uncloseted Media. “I felt cold, even though I wasn’t cold. I didn’t know what to do when I’m in a room with two adult men and the door is locked.” Alfaro, who was raised in the small, conservative town of Navasota, Texas, says he was given the choice of conversion therapy or living on […]

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Queer art faces widespread museum censorship, curators say

When artist Amy Sherald canceled her LGBTQ-inclusive Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery show “American Sublime” last month, it was just the latest in a series of censorship episodes involving LGBTQ art at major American museums this year. In February, Washington, D.C.’s Art Museum of the Americas canceled “Nature’s Wild With Andil Gosine” just weeks before the exhibition’s scheduled opening in March, without saying why. The group show was to have included works inspired by Gosine’s 2021 book, “Nature’s Wild: Love, Sex and Law in the Caribbean,” which reflects on art, activism and homosexuality in the region. The same month, Arizona’s Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art […]

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Black lesbian couple in Virginia almost killed in what authorities say is ‘potential hate crime’

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The top prosecutor in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, says his office is giving its full attention to the reported July 20 attack on Amylah Majors and Jamaria Gaskins, a married Black lesbian couple who say they were chased, threatened at gunpoint, and nearly killed in what they describe as a racially motivated hate crime. “I am taking the case very seriously and immediately requested a thorough investigation of all of the facts and circumstances when the case first came to my attention, which is underway,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Ryan Mehaffey told The Advocate. “All relevant charges, including potential hate crime charges, will be considered upon completion […]

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