News

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VA GOP Nominates Anti-Vax Anti-LGBTQ+ QAnon Nutbag For House

Media Matters reports: Republicans have nominated right-wing commentator Leon Benjamin for Virginia’s special U.S. House election next month. Benjamin is an election denier who has frequently pushed fringe conspiracy theories, including claiming that the pandemic was actually a “cover-up” by elites to usher in a “new world order”; COVID-19 vaccines contain a “tracking system” and herald the “mark of the beast”; and COVID-19 tests secretly implement a “wiring system inside you that is controlled by 5G.” Benjamin has been on a program on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars network with host Owen Shroyer, who is a January 6 insurrectionist and Sandy […]

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Britain vows new law to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ people

Britain will seek to ban conversion therapy targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, cracking down on so-called treatments that claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Culture minister Michelle Donelan said on Tuesday the government would publish draft legislation soon, setting out proposals to ban conversion practices in England and Wales. “The Bill will protect everyone, including those targeted on the basis of their sexuality, or being transgender,” Donelan said in a statement. Conversion practices, which may include extreme or harmful methods, are aimed at suppressing or preventing a person from being gay or existing as […]

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Egypt: A Year of Whitewashing Despite Dire Crisis

The Egyptian government failed to ease the ongoing repression campaign against critics in 2022 or repeal laws curtailing basic freedoms, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2023. Meanwhile, the government carried out a concerted whitewashing effort to improve the country’s image without enacting critical reforms, including issuing a presidentially sponsored national dialogue and hosting the COP27 UN climate conference in November. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi declared 2022 the “year of civil society,” but key members of civil society faced arbitrary travel bans, asset freezes, and criminal investigations in retaliation for their peaceful activism or criticism. Despite hosting COP27, the government has imposed arbitrary […]

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GOP nominee for House special election runs “ministry” falsely claiming to cure people from “homosexual and lesbian living”

Right-wing pundit Leon Benjamin, the Republican-backed nominee for a U.S. House special election in Virginia next month, says that he runs a “ministry” devoted to getting people to “escape” from “homosexual and lesbian living.” Benjamin has falsely and dangerously claimed LGBTQ people can be “healed” by changing their identity and compared his ministering to helping adulterers, thieves, and murderers.  Benjamin is the host of the streaming program B-Alert News and a frequent guest on far-right shows. Media Matters previously reported that he has repeatedly used his media platform to push bizarre anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and false claims about elections being stolen.   Benjamin is running […]

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Santos Gave His “Full-Blown Support” To Don’t Say Gay

“Hey everyone, George Santos here, congressional candidate in New York’s 3rd Congressional District. Let’s talk real quick about the Florida bill, Don’t Say Gay.  “Although the bill doesn’t mention those words, that’s what the left-leaning Democrats and progressives are labeling it. “I’ll leave you with this – as a gay man I stand proudly behind not teaching our children sex or sexual orientation. That’s incumbent on the parents, not educators.  “DeSantis, you have my full-blown support and I support your decision to protect our children’s innocence.  “I stand proudly behind the Florida legislature for putting a decent bill that will protect […]

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NE Bill Would Criminalize Taking Kids To Drag Shows

News Channel Nebraska reports: A bill proposed in the unicameral would place limitations on who can watch drag shows in Nebraska. The bill would ban anyone under 19 from watching a drag show, and it would prohibit anyone under 21 from watching drag shows where alcohol is present. LB371 was introduced by Republican State Sen. Dave Murman and is already stirring debate in the Legislature. Democratic State Sen. Megan Hunt has filed a motion to postpone the bill indefinitely, a decision that is still pending. Anyone who knowingly brings someone underage to a show would be subject to a misdemeanor. The […]

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Republican wants to expand definition of “child pornography” to make it easier to ban LGBTQ+ books

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A freshman lawmaker from Wyoming has already begun efforts to remove LGBTQ+ books for youth from both school and public libraries in the state. Republican Rep.-elect Jeanette Ward has introduced House Bill 87, which expands the definition of “child pornography” to mean “any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, cartoon, drawing, computer or computer generated image or picture, whether or not made or produced by electronic, mechanical or other means, or any other form of depiction of explicit sexual conduct.” The bill also repeals a law that gives exemptions for those who “possess or disseminate obscene material” for activities […]

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With over 100 anti-LGBTQ bills before state legislatures in 2023 so far, activists say they’re ‘fired up’

More than 100 bills targeting LGBTQ rights and queer life — from transgender health care to drag shows — have been filed in 22 states for 2023 so far, leading advocates to expect this year will set a new record for anti-LGBTQ legislation.  So far, Texas has taken the lead with 36 such bills, according to Equality Texas, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group. Missouri is next with 26, then North Dakota with eight and Oklahoma with six.  The majority of these approximately 120 bills focus on transgender young people, continuing a trend that began about two years ago.  In the past three years, 18 states […]

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Davante Lewis is the first out LGBTQ+ person elected to statewide office in Louisiana

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Progressive Democrat Davante Lewis has become the first out LGBTQ+ person elected to statewide office in Louisiana as well as the first out LGBTQ+ Black person elected to any public office in the state. Lewis, 30, recently won a runoff election and was elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission, a regulatory agency focused on ensuring reasonably priced public utilities. It also works on state energy policy. While the position is not something voters often pay close attention to, Nola.com said far more eyes were on this race due to high natural gas prices causing increased utility bills and a weak electrical […]

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Students protest Pride flag ban at Massachusetts high school

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A high school in Stoughton, Massachusetts was the site of a protest Tuesday night over the school’s ban on what it calls “political” flags and posters in classrooms. The action was organized by Stoughton High School senior Olivia Tran, who was suspended last week for leading a student demonstration against the policy during class hours. Tran draped a large Pride flag outside the school’s administration office in that protest and the group refused to return to class. Tuesday’s demonstration took place in and outside a previously scheduled school committee meeting, where Tran encouraged students and residents of the school district […]

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