News

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The Billy Club Announces a Gathering for Gay, Bi and Trans Men in Northern California

 Announcing the Billys’ Spring Gathering at Saratoga Springs, Lake County May 7th  to 11th – Sowing Seeds of Resilience. In these troubled times we need to strengthen our communities and remind ourselves of past successes in civil rights, promoting diversity, inclusion and equality. We also need to share strategies for protecting those hard won civil rights.  The Billys are asking that your organization will include this gathering call and/or information (attached) in your online, on air and print publications and post on your bulletin boards. We offer scholarships for our gatherings  The Billys were founded in 1988 to provide community to […]

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Taliban arrests & beats two queer women in Afghanistan. They might get death by stoning.

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LGBTQ+ activists Maeve Alcina Pieescu and Maryam Ravish were arrested by the Taliban last month while trying to flee Afghanistan. According to the U.K.-based human rights non-profit the Peter Tatchell Foundation, the two women face possible torture and execution. “They are expected to be tortured to reveal the names of other LGBTs and sentenced to a long jail term or possibly executed,” said Nemat Sadat, CEO of Afghan LGBT+ network Roshaniya, which is working with the foundation to press for the two women’s release. In a March 31 press release, the Peter Tatchell Foundation said that 19-year-old Ravish and 23-year-old Pieescu, […]

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US Citizenship and Immigration Services implements “cruel & unnecessary” anti-trans policy

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This week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it will only recognize “two biological sexes.” In a Wednesday, April 2, press release, the agency said that it was “updating the USCIS Policy Manual to clarify that it only recognizes two biological sexes, male and female.” The release cited President Donald Trump’s January 20, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”  The president’s anti-trans order similarly declared that the U.S. government will only recognize two sexes, male and female, and falsely characterized so-called “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex” as fundamental attacks on women […]

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Ohio Democrats call out Republicans for targeting LGBTQ+ people in 2025-2026 budget

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Republican legislators in Ohio have added anti-LGBTQ+ provisions to its 2025 budget that would officially recognize only two sexes, ban Pride flags from government buildings, and restrict the availability of LGBTQ+ books in public libraries, local media report. One of the provisions targets gender identity by declaring the state will only recognize the binary male and female sexes for official government documents and policies, declaring the two “sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.” Democrat state Rep. Rose Sweeney questioned both the “continuous attack” on the LGBTQ+ community in Ohio as well as the attempt to enact de facto legislation […]

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Illinois Gov. Pritzker stands up for LGBTQ+ community in fiery HRC speech

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Insert LinkIllinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat who is one of the strongest voices against Donald Trump, stood up for LGBTQ+ and particularly transgenderpeople in a fiery speech Saturday at the Human Rights Campaign’s Los Angelesdinner. “The Trump administration and his Republican lackeys in Congress are looking to reverse every single victory this community has won over the last 50 years,” Pritzker said in the speech at the Fairmont Century Plaza. “And right now it’s drag queens reading books and transgender people serving in the military. Tomorrow, it’s your marriage license and your job they want to take. Bending to the whims of a bully will not end his cruelty. It will only embolden him. The […]

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Missing gay Arizona yoga instructor, Marcus Freiberger, found dead after blind date

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The body of a beloved gay yoga teacher in Arizona has been discovered almost a month after he went missing following a blind date.  Marcus Freiberger, 45, was found dead in a rock quarry last week about 6 miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix police announced Tuesday in a press release. His cause of death is still “pending,” and the person he was meeting with has not yet been identified.  Freiberger was last seen at a parking garage near Second Avenue and Van Buren Street on February 21, driving a white 2021 GMC Sierra pickup with Arizona license plate 3MA66L. His family said […]

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Former California police officer awarded $10 million in harassment suit

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A San Diego jury awarded a female former police officer $10 million in damages after she won a harassment and discrimination case against her former employer. Ashley Cummins, an out lesbian, was “forced to work in a hostile work environment where she was frequently harassed and denied opportunities for advancement based on her sex/gender and sexual orientation,” according to an amended complaint filed in 2023 against the National City Police Department; the city of National City, California; and 50 unnamed defendants.  The complaint, filed in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, also alleged that “many of the male officers […]

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Federal judge again blocks Iowa book ban; expected to rule on ‘don’t say gay’ restrictions soon

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A federal judge has again blocked Iowa’s ban on certain books from public school classrooms and libraries. U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher ruled Tuesday that the ban on books depicting sex acts was likely unconstitutional and issued a preliminary injunction preventing its enforcement while the lawsuit against it continues, the Associated Press reports. The book ban is part of a broader “don’t say gay” law passed by Iowa’s legislature and signed by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds in May 2023. Two suits have been filed to challenge the law. Publishers and authors, including John Green and Jodi Picoult, and the Iowa State Education Association sued over the book ban, saying it went “far […]

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Multiple LGBTQ+ choirs perform in protest after Kennedy Centre cancels Gay Men’s Chorus concert

Multiple LGBTQ+ choirs have performed in protest after the Kennedy Centre cancelled a performance of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC and the National Symphony Orchestra. The concert was scheduled for 21 May as part of WorldPride 2025, with the two organisations set to collaborate on a piece titled “A Peacock Among Pigeons” for a Pride concert. In a statement shared on social media last month, the Gay Men’s Chorus said it was “deeply disappointed” by the decision to cancel the event. In response, eight LGBTQ+ choirs sang “Make Them Hear You” from the musical Ragtime in a defiant performance, which is dubbed […]

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Alabama community saves library after funding cut over LGBTQ+ books

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When Alabama Republicans cut funding to a local library in a dispute over LGBTQ-themed books for children and teens, it took less than a week for a community fundraiser to more than cover the loss of funds. At a contentious board meeting on Monday, the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) voted to pause $40,000 in funding to the Fairhope Public Library while the board reviews the practices of the library. The move came after the board heard complaints about books with LGBTQ+ themes and where they were placed on shelves, AL.com reports. The APLS recently introduced a new age-based three-tier system for shelving books, with sections for children, […]

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