News

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Marco Rubio may become the nation’s most anti-LGBTQ+ secretary of state ever

President-elect Donald Trump has named Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) as his choice for secretary of state, even though the two once traded barbs as political rivalsduring the 2016 Republican presidential primary.  While Rubio has primarily served as a legislator for his home state of Florida, he has unwaveringly maintained anti-LGBTQ+ policy stances throughout his political career. Marco Rubio at a glance Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Social Media Marco Rubio’s stance on LGBTQ+ issues Same-sex marriage Rubio has long opposed same-sex marriage, saying back in 2015 that the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing […]

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Military vet Gina Ortiz Jones becomes first lesbian elected mayor of San Antonio

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Gina Ortiz Jones, a lesbian and military veteran who served in President Joe Biden’s administration, has been elected mayor of San Antonio, the second-largest city in Texas and seventh-largest in the U.S. Jones beat Rolando Pablos, a former Texas secretary of state, in a runoff election Saturday. The margin was 54.3 percent to 45.7 percent, according to Ballotpedia. They advanced to the runoff because no candidate out of 27 in the May 3 general election received a majority of the vote. In the general election, Jones led with 27.2 percent and Pablos came in second with 16.6 percent. The current mayor, Ron Nirenberg, could not run again due to term limits. […]

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LGBTQ+ immigrants face ‘most immediate risk’ of ICE raids in Los Angeles

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As Immigration and Customs Enforcement increases its raids in Los Angeles, a large swath of the LGBTQ+ immigrants who live in the United States are at “most immediate risks of detention and deportation.” There are approximately 49,000 LGBTQ+ adult immigrants living in Los Angeles County who do not have U.S. citizenship, according to a new report from the Williams Institute, including 26,000 who hold lawful residency and 23,000 who are undocumented. Of these groups, 5,200 are transgender or nonbinary, just under 1,000 of whom are undocumented. Over 1.25 million LGBTQ+ adult immigrants live in the U.S., with an estimated 10 percent — 122,000 people — living in Los […]

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Pioneers and Trailblazers: LGBTQ Southerners of Past and Present Celebrated in Pride Season Exhibit in Middle Georgia

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Members of Macon’s LGBTQ community gathered inside The Tubman Museum of African American Art, History, and Culture on June 5 to celebrate the start of Pride season and the induction of three local advocates at the forefront of activism, art, and education who have contributed significantly to LGBTQ visibility and progress. Portraits of Marques Redd, co-founder and co-executive director of Rainbow Serpent, Richard Frazier, artistic and executive director of Theatre Macon, and Dr. Thomas Bullington, senior lecturer of English and Liberal Arts at Mercer University, were among 21 influential Macon LGBTQ leaders featured in the Pioneers and Trailblazers exhibit. Created in partnership with Storytellers Macon, inductees […]

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Trump’s ‘punitive’ travel ban will disproportionately harm LGBTQ+ people, expert warns

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A human rights group has warned a travel ban on 12 countries imposed by Donald Trump will disproportionately affect LGBTQ+ people and other vulnerable groups. The 78-year-old US president signed a proclamation in the early hours of Thursday (5 May) banning travel to the US for nationals of several countries. Countries whose citizens are now banned from entering the US are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The White House cited several national security concerns in a statement after Trump signed the travel ban, claiming it would help protect the US from “foreign terrorists.” […]

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A D.C. couple hung flags outside for Pride Month. The church next door cut them down

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Jay Richards and his partner had decorated their apartment for Pride Month just hours before they received a message from their rental company telling them to take down their banners.  The couple lives in one of three apartments connected to Walker Memorial Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. which the church rent out through EJF Real Estate Services. Since WorldPride is being hosted in D.C. this year, Richards and his partner decided to show their holiday spirit by hanging rainbow flags on their gate alongside a sign reading “Happy Pride.” It wasn’t long before the two received a message from their rental company asking them to take […]

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Lesbian Rep. Becca Balint & ally Sen. Jeff Merkley file bill to nullify Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders

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U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont, both Democrats, have introduced legislation to nullify Donald Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ executive orders. The No Place for LGBTQ+ Hate Act, introduced Thursday, would ensure that Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ orders would have no force or effect and that no federal funds would be used to put them into effect. During his second term, Trump has issued executive orders saying the federal government will recognize only two sexes, male and female as assigned at birth, therefore denying the existence of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex people; reinstating and expanding the trans military ban; seeking to prevent trans youth from receiving gender-affirming care; seeking to keep trans students from […]

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ICE detained a trans migrant at her asylum hearing. Her lawyers still can’t contact her

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A federal judge has ordered Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to deport a transgender immigrant after officers arrested her during her asylum hearing — but her attorneys say they still haven’t been able to contact her. O.J.M., known only by her initials out of concerns for her safety, was leaving a courtroom during her asylum hearing on Monday when she was detained by ICE agents, who demanded that the court dismiss her case. She was then taken from the courthouse in Portland, Ore. and forcibly moved across state lines to the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash. ICE did not inform O.J.M.’s attorneys, from the immigration […]

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Haters Get Last-Minute Win Over FL Pride Drag Show

The Naples Daily News reports: Just hours before Naples Pride was set to go with an outdoors drag show performance in the city’s Cambier Park, a federal court ruled against Pride’s plan, forcing it to move the performance indoors. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta on June 6 granted the city of Naples’ motion to stay a preliminary injunction that District Judge John Steele granted last month in Fort Myers. Naples Pride in April filed a federal lawsuit against the city after officials denied a permit to allow it to present the 2025 Pride Fest drag show, […]

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30,000 March In Bucharest Pride As Christian Far-Right Group Counters With Its “March For Normality”

Reuters reports: Tens of thousands of Romanians joined an LGBTQ Pride march in Bucharest on Saturday, demanding civil union partnership legislation and equal rights after a highly-contested presidential election last month buoyed the far right. The European Union state has so far ignored a 2023 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, which found Romania had failed to enforce the rights of same-sex couples by refusing to recognise their relationships. Socially conservative Romania decriminalised homosexuality in 2001, decades later than other parts of the EU, but still bars marriage and civil partnerships for same-sex couples. In Bucharest, marchers danced and […]

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