National

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NY Gov. Kathy Hochul Issues Pride Month Proclamation

Just in via press release: As New Yorkers come together to celebrate Pride Month and mark the 15th anniversary of New York’s landmark Marriage Equality Act, The Great New York State Fair today announced its LGBTQ+ Pride Day programming for Friday, August 28, the first Friday of the 2026 Fair. LGBTQ+ Pride Day will feature the annual Resource Fair, comedy performances, community programming, and the Chevrolet Music Series lineup that includes Melissa Etheridge, Brandy Clark, DJ Pretty Mess, and Elton and The Early Years Band. Today’s announcement was made during a special Pride Month ceremony and flag raising at the Fairgrounds, […]

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MI Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Issues Pride Proclamation

WHEREAS, Michigan is home to an estimated over 373,000 residents who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+); and, WHEREAS, Michigan’s LGBTQ+ residents contribute to the fabric of our society, hold positions across sectors of our economy and at the highest levels of government, and live in every region of our state; and, WHEREAS, Michigan has been at the forefront of advancing civil rights for LGBTQ+ people, beginning with the nation’s first non-discrimination ordinance passed in 1972 in East Lansing, and the nation’s first Civil Rights Commission to independently recognize that discrimination “because of sex” includes sexual orientation […]

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Ken Paxton Sues Texas City Over “Big Gay Swim Day”

Austin’s CBS affiliate reports: Attorney General Ken Paxton says he’s suing the city of Denton over gender-neutral changing rooms being available at a June Pride event at one of the city’s public pools. The June 7 event, called “Big Gay Swim Day,” was organized by two nonprofit groups – PRIDENTON and OUTreach Denton, and is set to be held at the Quakertown Civic Center. The city owns the center, which has a public-access swimming pool and sex-specific multiple-occupancy changing rooms. The event is advertised as open to the general public of all ages, and organizers have announced that gender-neutral changing rooms […]

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WI Gov. Tony Evers Issues Pride Month Proclamation

Madison’s Fox affiliate reports: The Progress Pride Flag was raised over the state capitol Monday to recognize June as Pride Month in Wisconsin. Pride Month originally began as a recognition of and tribute to the Stonewall Uprising in 1969 and has become an annual, month-long celebration and recognition of the LGBTQ community. Monday marks the eighth and final time Governor Tony Evers hoisted the Pride Flag over the Wisconsin State Capitol building, which first became a tradition in Wisconsin in 2019 after he took office when he ordered the Rainbow Pride Flag to be flown over the Capitol for the first […]

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Running for office while LGBTQ+ increasingly means preparing for violence

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After years of escalating anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in American politics, a new national report suggests the consequences are no longer confined to campaign ads, legislative fights, or online outrage. For many LGBTQ+ candidates, the threats have become intensely personal and increasingly physical. The threats arrive in direct messages, voicemail inboxes, comment sections, and late-night emails. Sometimes they follow candidates home. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. One LGBTQ+ candidate reported that a neighbor shot at their house after they advocated for transgender rights. Another described being shoved off a […]

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Meet the Democrat poised to become Georgia’s first transgender state lawmaker

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When Bentley Hudgins talks about democracy, they rarely begin with ideology. They talk about brown water running from neighborhood taps. About losing housing after an apartment complex changed ownership. About sleeping in a 1997 Dodge Dakota pickup truck during a brutal Georgia summer. About being disbelieved by doctors for years before finally receiving treatment that restored their hearing. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. And they talk about the exhaustion of watching politicians spend years targeting transgender people while basic problems remain unsolved. Support Independent Journalism LGBTQ+ stories deserve to […]

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Chicago community raises more than $40K for husband of gay man killed in alleged stalker shooting

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More than 400 people have donated upwards of $40,000 for the husband of a beloved Chicago gay community member, who prosecutors say was gunned down by his spouse’s ex-partner after years of alleged harassment and stalking claims that had previously reached the courts. The killing of Nicholas “Pup Tugger” Calzaretta, 37, has shaken Chicago’s LGBTQ+ leather and pup communities and intensified scrutiny over the limits of protective orders in cases involving escalating threats and intimate partner violence. Neighbors watched from behind police tape as officers flooded a quiet residential block in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. Children were arriving at nearby schools. And beside Calzaretta’s body, […]

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Focus on the Family’s Complete Track Record of Anti-LGBTQ Hate

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Focus on the Family (FOTF) is a Christian ministry with a half-century history of anti-LGBTQ advocacy. Through the years, they have worked with the biggest American politicians and lawmakers to pass or maintain laws that treat LGBTQ people as second-class citizens. The nonprofit, which today amasses more than $100 million a year in revenue, was founded by James Dobson, who believed secularism was the cause of the rapid decay of American society. Here is the organization’s complete track record on LGBTQ issues. 1970 James Dobson publishes Dare to Discipline, a book that recommends corporal punishment as a way to discipline poorly behaved children, writing: “Pain is a marvelous purifier. […]

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Kentucky city’s LGBTQ+ police liaison faces mounting scrutiny after 9 lawsuits

Curtis Clemons has lived in Northern Kentucky his entire life. The 36-year-old said he’s loved Covington since he was a kid. Growing up 45 minutes away in Williamstown, he looked forward to weekends “in the city” with his family. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. Clemons, now a resident and a local realtor, said he usually felt safe in Covington when he interacted with local law enforcement until he learned of a police officer in Covington named Doug Ullrich. “The interactions I’ve seen on […]

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Missouri Republicans introduced 58 anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Not one became law

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For years, Missouri has been one of the country’s most aggressive testing grounds for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. It’s a Republican-controlled state where lawmakers have repeatedly introduced bills targeting transgender youth, dragperformers, school policies, and gender expression as part of the broader national culture war over LGBTQ+ rights. This year, none of them passed. Stay up to date with the latest in LGBTQ+ news with The Advocate’s email newsletter, in your inbox five days a week. In what advocates are calling a significant political upset, Missouri lawmakers adjourned their regular legislative session Friday without enacting any of the 58 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced during the 2026 session, according […]

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