https://www.sfcommunityhealth.org/program/trans-masc-support-group Trans Masculine Group 6-7:30 pm Although hosted by SF Community Health this event is open to any person that is interested in joining. You do not need to be a resident of San Francisco or even California. This is an inclusive social support group for all trans-masculine and non-binary individuals. Topics covered are ever-changing and cover a wide range of topics from navigating trans healthcare, exploring hobbies, and peer-to-peer skill shares. This meeting is hybrid every Tuesday, held in-person at 1460 Pine St and online. Zoom ID: 319 905 337
A new study has shown that a number of terrorist groups are targeting LGBTQ+ communities.
The research, published in PS: Political Science & Politics, and led by extremism expert Dr Jared Dmello from the University of Adelaide’s School of Social Sciences, showed that extremist groups with contrasting ideologies overlapped in their hatred of LGBTQ+ people.
“We found a wide variety of extremist groups, which on the surface have nothing in common, are actually engaging in similar attacks on the same marginalised communities, Dmello was quoted as saying by Cosmos magazine.
“Both Islamic extremist groups and far-right terrorist groups actively target the queer community through propaganda and violence.
‘Similar tactics and propaganda used to justify attacks’
“It was quite surprising to me just how much the far-right and Islamic extremists are engaging in similar tactics, messaging and propaganda to justify their attacks against the LGBTQ+ community.
“Sadly, this reflects broader political movements around the world that also target the human rights of this increasingly vulnerable population.”
Talking about the study, he said: “The article even features propaganda created by the Russian government, claiming that NATO-trained mosquitoes in Ukrainian labs were designed to spread a ‘gay virus’ that would selectively infect only ethnic Russians.
“In response, some Russian supermarkets now sell a specialised mosquito repellent designed to protect against this so-called gay virus.”
In light of the findings, Dmello, who was aided in the research by professor Mia Bloom and Dr Sophia Moskalenko, called for further investigation into extremist narratives.
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In 2023, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned that the LGBTQ+ community in the US would be at risk of attacks during the 2024 US presidential campaign.
Rainbow Zone Radio Show is a bi-lingual, two hour-long, program featuring coverage of news impacting the LGBTQI+ Community; in-depth coverage of topics and events; interviews; arts and entertainment — tune in for information intended to keep the LGBTQI+ Community entertained and engaged. Airing on 89.1 KBBF FM English program from 5-6pm. Zona Arco Iris Radio/Rainbow Zone Radio es un programa que ofrece cobertura de noticias que afectan a la comunidad LGBTQI+; cobertura en profundidad de temas y eventos; entrevistas; artes y entretenimiento: y información necesaria para mantener entretenida y comprometida a la comunidad LGBTQI+. 89.1 KBBF FM Programa de español de 4-5pm.
Yeshiva University in New York has agreed to recognize an LGBTQ student club after years of legal disputes that at one point reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
The university said Thursday in a statement that it reached an agreement with the students to end the litigation and will officially recognize the club, which will be called Hareni and “will operate in accordance with the approved guidelines of Yeshiva University’s senior rabbis.”
“The club will be run like other clubs on campus, all in the spirit of a collaborative and mutually supportive campus culture,” the university said.
The club was formerly known as the YU Pride Alliance and was long the subject of litigation over whether the university had to recognize it. The school contended that such recognition would violate its religious beliefs.
In 2022 the dispute wound up in the Supreme Court, which cleared the way for the club to be recognized while also telling Yeshiva it should return to state court to seek quick review and temporary relief.
In its own statement Thursday, the club confirmed the agreement and said it will enjoy the same privileges as other student organizations on campus. It plans to host charitable events, movie nights, panel discussions and career networking events and will publicly use “LGBTQ+” on flyers and advertisements.
“This agreement affirms that LGBTQ+ students at Yeshiva University are valued members of the community,” said Schneur Friedman, a president of the group.
“This victory is not just for our club — it’s for every student who deserves a safe space to be themselves,” said Hayley Goldberg, another Hareni president.
“I’m excited to move forward, build community, and continue advocating for a school where everyone belongs,” Goldberg said.
A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the Texas A&M University System from enforcing a ban on drag performances on its campuses.
The Texas A&M Board of Regents passed a resolution last month that prohibited drag shows in campus venues, arguing at the time, according to court documents, that drag shows could violate President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting federal funds from being used to promote “gender ideology.”
As a result of the resolution, Texas A&M’s flagship campus in College Station canceled “Draggieland,” an annual drag performance scheduled for Thursday in a campus theater. The Texas A&M Queer Empowerment Council, an LGBTQ student group that has sponsored the event for the past five years, sued, arguing that the ban on drag performances violates the First Amendment.
U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas said the students’ claim is likely to succeed and issued a temporary injunction that will allow the performance to go on as scheduled while litigation continues.
“By permitting Draggieland to be held on campus, in the theatre used for a wide variety of events and performances, for those who want to attend and have bought tickets to do so, the Board does not imply that it endorses Draggieland’s message,” Rosenthal wrote in her opinion. “Instead, the Board is complying with the constitutional obligation to allow different messages and viewpoints, including those viewed as offensive to some, to be expressed at a university that is committed to critical thought about a wide range of conflicting and divergent viewpoints and ideologies.”
The Queer Empowerment Council said in a statement that it is “overjoyed” with the decision.
“This is another display of the resilience of queer joy, as that is an unstoppable force despite those that wish to see it destroyed,” the group said. “While this fight isn’t over, we are going to appreciate the joy we get to bring by putting on the best show that we can do.”
A spokesperson for the Texas A&M University System said the school has received the judge’s opinion and is reviewing its options and potential next steps.
The decision is yet another blow against policies that seek to restrict drag performances. In 2023, a federal judge struck down a Texas law that LGBTQ advocates feared would ban drag shows, and judges also blocked a similar law in Montana that targeted drag shows and events where drag performers read books to children. However, in Tennessee, a federal appeals court last year allowed a law restricting drag to stand, reversing a lower court ruling.
Texas A&M’s Board of Regents, in addition to arguing that allowing drag performances on campus could violate Trump’s order regarding “gender ideology,” also said such performances violate the university’s mission to respect others. Drag, the board said, involves men dressing in women’s clothing, wearing exaggerated makeup and prosthetics and performing in a way that “demeans women.”
The performances could “contribute to a hostile environment for women contrary to System anti-discrimination policy and Title IX,” the university said, citing a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs, according to court documents.
Rosenthal, however, said that the board didn’t show any evidence that “Draggieland” has contributed to an increase in the harassment of female students over the last five years the Queer Empowerment Council has held the performance and that the record didn’t show that any female students had complained.
In addition, Rosenthal said the board couldn’t show evidence that Trump’s executive order regarding “gender ideology” applies to drag shows “or that the Draggieland message denies the existence of the male and female sexes.”
“The QEC’s complaint makes clear that by donning clothing and makeup traditionally associated with the opposite sex, Draggieland performers intend to convey a message of LGBTQ+ support by engaging in a protected art form,” Rosenthal wrote. “The performers are just that: performers. They are acting. The performance is theater. It is not about individuals seeking to change their biological sex or claim a different biological sex. It is about actors who perform dressed differently than their biological sex. Again, the Board’s argument conflates the existence of two sexes with different ways to express sexuality and sexual themes.”
Rosenthal added, “To ban the performance from taking place on campus because it offends some members of the campus community is precisely what the First Amendment prohibits.”
Brew Coffee and Beer House, 555 Healdsburg Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401, USA
notes
The last Thursday of every month Brew hosts a fun and casual environment to build local queer community. Bring friends or make new ones. There’s games, icebreakers, and music. Food and drinks available for purchase.
An LGBTQ club in Sacramento, California, is banning all “MAGA-related attire”after a patron wore a “Make America Great Again” hat to the popular venue.
The phrase and its acronym — especially when emblazoned on red baseball caps — have been popular among Donald Trump’s supporters since the president’s first term.
Badlands owner TJ Bruce announced the new policy on the club’s Instagram page this week, saying the hat “led to discomfort among some patrons.”
“We initially decided to ban all political attire to avoid further issues. However, after careful consideration, we’ve realized that a blanket ban is not the right approach,” the announced said. “Moving forward, MAGA-related attire will not be allowed in the venue. This decision is not about banning political beliefs — it is about ensuring that Badlands remains a space where our community feels comfortable and supported.”
The customer who donned the MAGA hat, Steven Bourasa, said it was the first time he’d worn the hat to a gay bar.
Bourasa added that he had a “pleasant time” at Badlands and ran into no problems, so he thought the night went well and was surprised to hear of the new policy.
Reactions to the club’s new policy were mixed.
The Sacramento chapter of Log Cabin Republicans, a gay conservative group, called the policy “a disappointing move that prioritizes division over the fundamental American principle of free speech.”
“While private businesses have the right to enforce their own policies, choosing to exclude individuals based on political expression contradicts the very values of inclusivity and open dialogue that the LGBTQ+ community has long fought for,” the group wrote in an Instagram post. “True equality is not about silencing opposing views but about creating spaces where diverse perspectives can coexist.”
Alice Malmberg, who lives near Badlands, which is located in the city’s Lavender Heights “gayborhood,” said she found the decision to prohibit MAGA attire at the club understandable.
“Given the current political climate and what’s been going on and how the administration has been behaving toward certain groups, especially the LGBTQ community, I can understand why they made that decision,” she told KCRA.
As for Bourasa, he told KCRA that he’ll continue to visit Badlands but will keep his MAGA gear at home.
The African Human Rights Campaign (AHRC) called for a boycott of WorldPride – an international Pride celebration held in a different city every few years, with this year’s festivities to be held in D.C. – citing concerns about travel safety because of the Trump administration’s hostility towards the LGBTQ+ community. The statement echoes a similar statement put out by Germany.
WorldPride will take place in Washington, D.C., between May 17 and June 8. It is meant to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community’s resilience and history. However, recent attacks on the community by the federal government have made this year’s event a dangerous protest.
This is especially true for foreign visitors to the United States. It has become the center of international debate over the safety and visibility of LGBTQ+ people under the Trump administration’s attack on their rights. The president has violated court orders to halt deportations, which has made LGBTQ+ travelers even more weary of whether the laws against false imprisonment will protect them.
“The United States is no longer a free democratic country that WorldPride signed up for,” wrote AHRC Executive Director Melanie Nathan in her statement.
The AHRC advocates for LGBTQ+ Africans and asylum seekers and is now comparing attending WorldPride in the U.S. to legitimizing Apartheid in South Africa. Pointing to recent policies such as the gutting of asylum protections and increased hostility for trans and nonbinary people, the group says that visibility in a hostile environment will not guarantee safety.
“African Human Rights Coalition calls on WorldPride to come out and make the strongest of condemnation and solidarity statements, to cite all the antagonism that this current United States presents to its LGBTQI+ citizens,” said a spokesperson for the AHRC.
WorldPride organizers are facing increasing attacks on their funding in the wake of the administration’s attempts to end diversity initiatives. Booz Allen Hamilton, a firm with federal contracts, withdrew its sponsorship in February following Trump’s executive order to erase DEI efforts.
Despite concerns raised by organizations outside the U.S., WorldPride organizers are resisting the boycott call, emphasizing that participation is an act of resistance. They say that canceling or relocating the event outside the United States is not an option and see it as an opportunity to resist the government’s discrimination and demonstrate collective strength.
“A boycott of WorldPride sends the wrong message,” Ryan Boss, Capital Pride Alliance executive director, told The Advocate in a statement. “We need to show up together, show resilience and resistance to ensure we remain visible and heard.”
People are still concerned about travel restrictions. Capital Pride Alliance has stated they will make efforts to ensure the safety of those who plan to attend by working with law enforcement and federal agencies. The AHRC, however, argues that those agencies can not be trusted.
“To the transgender and nonbinary people who are considering joining us in D.C. for WorldPride, I want you to know that we are working tirelessly with agencies and advocates to ensure that you are able to safely and securely travel to and from the U.S.,” Boss said. “Our local community is vibrant and diverse, and we are excited to welcome everyone. For those that choose not to, or are unable to, join us in D.C., know that we need you to remain a part of this movement. Please stay active where you are and join us virtually if you are able.”
Though times remain uncertain, WorldPride is moving forward with preparations. WorldPride is planning the largest LGBTQ+ music festival in history. The event will run from June 6 to 8 and feature performances from Doechii, Kim Petras, Jennifer Lopez, Troy Sivan, and RuPaul, along with other performers.
Rachel Maddow reported Thursday night that a young gay Venezuelan man, deported without due processunder a Trump administration directive, has been identified publicly for the first time. His name is Andrys. He is 23 years old. He is a makeup artist. And he has vanished into a Salvadoran mega-prison.
Lindsay Toczylowski, who identified the man only by his first name, shared photos of the 23-year-old on The Rachel Maddow Show. The Advocate is not using Andrys’s last name due to concerns over his safety. Toczylowski said the Trump administration forcibly removed her client from the United States without a court hearing or deportation order.
She explained that her team decided to share his identity because the government had already disclosed it in an internal document. “Names and identities of people have been shared today via a list,” she said. “And so we know that it is inevitable that our client will be identified, and we feel it’s important to let the world know who Andrys, our client, is because he is a human being. He is a young professional from Venezuela. He’s a makeup artist. He is a gay man.”.
Andrys had arrived in the U.S. seeking asylum, his lawyer said. He was detained after immigration officials flagged his tattoos as possible signs of gang affiliation—a claim his attorney says is unfounded. “These are not the tattoos of somebody who is involved with gangs,” Toczylowski said. “These are normal tattoos that you would see on anybody at a coffee shop anywhere in the United States or Venezuela.”
According to Venezuelan independent news outlet Crónica Uno, which interviewed the young man’s mother, Andrys last spoke to his family shortly before his disappearance. They believed he would be deported to Venezuela. He never arrived.
Instead, he is now being held in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as Cecot—a sprawling, 40,000-capacity mega-prison used to detain suspected gang members. The Trump administration deported 238 Venezuelan men to Cecot despite a federal judge’s emergency order to stop the flights on March 15.
“Today, we have confirmation from the government—one of the few groups or attorneys that have confirmation—that our client is indeed in El Salvador,” Toczylowski said.
International human rights groups have condemned the prison for extreme overcrowding, systemic abuse, denial of medical care, and a communications blackout. “There’s no phone, mail or visits,” political scientist Mneesha Gellman toldThe Guardian. LGBTQ+ individuals are at heightened risk inside the facility, where detainees are often identified—and sometimes targeted—based on tattoos alone.
Andrys was scheduled to appear in U.S. immigration court to challenge the government’s allegations last week. He never appeared. “ICE never presented him,” Toczylowski said. “The immigration judge said, ‘How is it possible that he’s been removed if there’s no removal order?’ And the ICE attorney that was in the courtroom said, ‘I don’t know.’”
Lindsay Toczylowski on MSNBC
Toczylowski said ICE has since told her team it will not facilitate communication with Andrys or make him available for his next immigration hearing. “They will not facilitate communication with our client, because he has, in their words, been removed,” she said. “And they will not make him available for that hearing in two weeks.”
Maddow described the case as part of “one of the most dramatic crises of this new presidency,” and said the administration’s legal argument amounts to claiming unchecked executive authority. “Just on Trump’s say-so, you’re gone out of the country, disappeared indefinitely,” she said.
The Advocate contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for comment on Friday. The agency did not immediately respond.
Toczylowski warned that her client’s case reflects a broader assault on due process and the right to seek asylum. “We’re pursuing all avenues,” she said. “Because our client’s life is at risk. We’re concerned for his safety. And the fact that he was forcibly taken from the United States with no due process—it’s just—it’s something that really shocks the conscience in a way that we haven’t seen since family separation happened in 2018.”
Newark, New Jersey LGBTQ activists are organizing to heal their city from redlining – the systematic denial of services, like mortgages, insurance, and other financial services, often based on race or ethnicity – and environmental discrimination to build a healthy, clean, and affordable place where bodily autonomy is never in question.
These local leaders understand the convergence between environmental justice and queer liberation and seek to educate others on how queer-centered action unlocks freedoms and possibilities for all.
The City of Newark, home to state schools Rutgers University and a State University of New Jersey campus, has a majority Black, Brown, immigrant, LGBTQ and low-income population.
This population has experienced escalation in raids (some deemed illegal by residents and the city’s mayor) by U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE), but also bears the ongoing burden of neighboring toxic waste facilities including three power plants, with a fourth power plant looming over residents of the 26 sq mi city.
Local activists are scheduled to host a protest against the backup power plant March 13 at the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission at 10:30 a.m.
From a national perspective, The Trump Administration has slashed well-established environmental justice policies. The Administration also instructed agencies to eliminate environmental justice-related roles in tandem with the reversal of diversity, equity and inclusion policy, AP News reported.
The GLAAD Media Institute – GLAAD’s training, research, and consulting division of the organization – traveled to Newark to discuss with local leaders their top community priorities for year.
Right now, the environment and its impact on quality of life is their main concern.
“Fighting for LGBTQ rights in Newark in terms of environmental justice, in terms of housing justice, it makes a lot of sense to me because we are the communities that have been segregated to one of the last affordable places to live in the country.” JV Valladolid, environmental justice organizer for Ironbound Community Corporation said.
“Unfortunately we are also communities that are living in the historical lines of redlining, which means a lot of toxic sites have been placed right in our neighborhoods,” Valladolid continued.
Historically, redlining has resulted the divesting of neighborhoods often populated by low-income communities by coloring out “dangerous-to-invest-in” areas in red. While the practice is outlawed today, redlining’s effects linger in major cities throughout the country. Newark is one of those cities, and holds the great burden of holding the entire state on its shoulders.
Valladolid aims to relieve that tension with a variety of coalition partners.
Next to Valladolid stood Ironbound Community Corporation’s Environmental Policy Analyst Chloe Desir who says she fights for LGBTQ people because she and Valladolid are LGBTQ people, but also because LGBTQ people among Brown, Black, disabled, and low income communities “are the same people that have been fighting [these] same fights for decades.”
Desir calls Newark a melting pot where people from all over the world come together to find ways to support themselves, their at-large community, and families.
“Newark is definitely a microcosm of this country,” Desir said as a result. “Newark and especially in the Ironbound, we are predominantly a foreign born city and community, so that means we have so many different people coming in from different walks of life and different identities that contribute to the community.”
Desir said these contributions to Newark, and the Ironbound, look like building art scenes, culture, and coalition. For example, Newark LGBTQ Film Festival spoke to GLAAD about their work in the community. Going to public school GSA’s (Gender and Sexuality Alliance) to talk to youth about screenings, and opportunities to work in expanding Black, Brown, and LGBTQ representation in film.
Director of the Newark LGBTQ Film Festival Denise Hinds says joy is imperative to the justice she and people like Valladolid and Desir are fighting for. She says that is why representation in the media is also important. The film festival materialized during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has flourished ever since.
“LGBTQ folks in Newark really needed something that spoke to them about who they were, and what they were about,” Hinds said. “We don’t see a lot of representation in films on a regular basis, especially films that focus on queer BIPOC folks. That was our dream, to be able to bring these films to Newark, and really throughout New Jersey, but really focusing on the folks in Newark and really focusing on something they can see themselves in.”
Hinds says it means so much to bring joy to LGBTQ youth in Newark. Additionally, the director is excited to continue building community among Newark’s LGBTQ youth with their annual film festival starting in the first week of May.
Like Valladolid, and many of the youth Hinds works with, LGBTQ Activist and history-making journalist Steven McCoy was born and raised in Newark, and like the Newark LGBTQ Film Festival, he works as a change agent through his nonprofit Spoken Heroes. His organization has a mission to “empower and support disabled grade school and college students by providing them with essential resources” throughout Newark and the country.
McCoy, presumably the world’s first deaf and blind Black journalist, founded Spoken Heroes after years of discrimination and ableism as a result of Usher Syndrome, a retinal eye disease which led McCoy to experience blindness and hearing loss, McCoy told GLAAD.
He still lives in Newark, and he wouldn’t move anywhere else, even when he felt the city didn’t support him.
“I love where Newark is headed because there’s so much growth than where it was before. I used to feel that Newark did not support me,” McCoy said. But once he left and returned, he found it his mission to stay and keep investing in the city that raised him.
“But what pushed me to now, at this point, to get involved more when it comes to the LGBT community, it’s because now I have students who are queer or trans,” McCoy continued. “It’s my responsibility to make sure that I’m educating myself and that I’m able to communicate with them efficiently, and make them feel absolutely included.”
