News

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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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Europe has a new best country for LGBTQ+ rights

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ILGA Europe has published its annual Rainbow Map and LGBTQ+ rights index, and Spain has now claimed the number one spot for the most LGBTQ+-positive laws and policies. Spain displaced Malta from the number one spot, a position that Malta had held for the last 10 years. ILGA explained in its report that, “Spain’s rise to the top reflects a combination of achievements, including a fully functioning depathologization of trans identities in healthcare, new legal protections, new national LGBTI and trans strategies, a new independent equal treatment and non-discrimination authority, and a determined fightback against far-right attempts to dismantle national trans […]

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13-year-old Russian kid prosecuted for “LGBT propaganda” after he shared a video he found online

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Police in Russia charged a 13-year-old schoolboy for “LGBT propaganda” and displaying “extremist” symbols in May, after he shared an unidentified video with his classmates, and their parents complained, Mediazona reports. His identity was withheld to protect his privacy. Any number of symbols associated with LGBTQ+ identity are now classified as “extremist” in Russia, including rainbows. The designation came into effect with the Russian Supreme Court’s determination in 2023 that the so-called “international LGBT movement” is an “extremist” organization and now banned in the country. “He wasn’t trying to spread propaganda. He doesn’t even know what that is,” a lawyer representing the schoolboy told Mediazona. […]

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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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Iceland ranks top in 2026 map of most trans-friendly countries in Europe

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A new 2026 ranking of the most trans-friendly countries in Europe and Central Asia has been released, and Iceland has come out on top. The annual Trans Rights Index and Map, which comes from Transgender Europe, documents the protections and opportunities available for trans and non-binary people within each European and Central Asian country. It comes in partnership with ILGA Europe’s Rainbow Map and is co-funded by the European Union. The index scores countries in a number of different indicator categories, includingLegal Gender Recognition, Asylum, Hate Crime/Speech, Non-Discrimination, Health and Family. Iceland scored 30 out of 32, with full marks in all but two categories. […]

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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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San Francisco YMCA updates women’s locker room rules after complaint over one trans patron

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A San Francisco YMCA has updated its locker room guidelines following complaints from some members about a trans member’s conduct in the women’s changing facilities. The Stonestown Family YMCA introduced new signage outlining expectations around nudity, privacy, and appropriate use of shared spaces, as reported by The Daily Mail on 25 May. The updated rules state that nudity should be “discreet, limited, and brief”, and that it is permitted only while actively showering. Members are also instructed to maintain personal space and use common areas in a manner that respects the privacy of others. According to reporting, the changes follow a period of dispute involving a […]

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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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Russian woman sentenced to forced labour for writing gay K-Pop fan-fiction

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A woman in Russia has been sentenced to 18 months of forced labour for “illegal production and distribution of pornographic materials”, after she admitted to writing gay fan-fiction about K-Pop group Stray Kids. Alexandra Kuzyk, a 36-year-old photographer and stylist, published fan-fiction depicting same-sex romance, which a mother subsequently found on her daughter’s device, according to KP-Yekaterinburg. The case was launched in 2025, with prosecutors initially seeking a four-year prison sentence, as people in Russia continue to live under the country’s extreme laws. Kuzyk admitted that she had written the fan-fiction. She told the court that it was a longtime hobby. She was sentenced to 18 months […]

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Japan takes major step to officially recognise non-binary identities

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Japan has taken a landmark step towards non-binary legal recognition. The Osaka High Court ruled on 8 May that the country’s family registration system, the koseki, a mandatory national record-keeping system tracking births, deaths and marriages, violates Japan’s constitutional equality protections by only offering “male” and “female” as gender options. The case was brought by a 50-year-old non-binary resident of Kyoto Prefecture, who petitioned to change their designation of “eldest daughter” to a gender-neutral term in the koseki. While the court stopped short of granting the individual request immediately, it ruled that the absence of a nonbinary gender marker option should be […]

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