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Queer Candidate Lauren Ashley Simmons Advances to Runoff in Bid to Unseat Anti-LGBTQ+ Democrat in HD146

LGBTQ+ Victory Fund candidate Lauren Ashley Simmons won the most votes in Tuesday’s Democratic primary to represent District 146 in the Texas state House of Representatives in her bid to unseat Rep. Shawn Thierry, a Democrat who voted with Republicans to ban gender affirming care in Texas. An out queer candidate, Simmons’ campaign earned the support of a broad coalition of progressive groups and leaders. Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, released the following statement: “Lauren’s victory today proves that voters don’t want leaders focused on bigotry – they want progress. I couldn’t be […]

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Julie Johnson Wins U.S. House Primary; Could be First LGBTQ+ Representative from the South

LGBTQ+ Victory Fund candidate Julie Johnson won Tuesday’s Democratic primary to represent Texas’s 32nd District in the U.S. House. If successful in November, Johnson will make history as the first out LGBTQ+ person elected to Congress from the South.Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, President & CEO of LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, released the following statement:   “Julie Johnson is the representative Texas needs in Congress, where she’ll fiercely combat the bigotry and ignorance that’s taken over too much of our state politics. Julie has an enviable record of advocating for her constituents in the state House, and there’s no doubt that […]

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Haters attacked an inclusive public library. So its director made the whole city a book sanctuary.

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Last June, the Hoboken Public Library in New Jersey hosted a Banned Books Read-A-Thon event in honor of Pride Month. Library director Jennie Pu described the event as “very simple” and “almost boring,” where participants merely read excerpts from books out loud.  But that didn’t stop the right-wing outrage machine from stirring up trouble. It started when Internet troll Chaya Raichik disparaged the event on her Libs of TikTok social media account, which has been known to inspire threats of violence against the facilities it targets. Raichik claimed the Read-A-Thon books “promote[d] kink and sex apps” and her followers proceeded to flood the library […]

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LGBTQ+ people are facing a mental health crisis. Sharice Davids is ready to fight for them.

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Davids is currently fighting to win her fourth term this November — a tough battle, as her district’s demographics have changed to become less Democratic-leaning, and Republican opponents are lining up to challenge her. But she has also been fighting another very important battle: the fight for increased access to mental health care. Davids has co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to fund mental health programs in local clinics, schools, and law enforcement centers, as well as a bipartisan bill to help people recovering from substance abuse reenter the workforce. She has also supported dozens of bills to bring down the costs of health care and prescription drugs and introduced the Pride […]

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Annise Parker says local LGBTQ+ candidates have the power to take down Donald Trump

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Years before Annise Parker was elected Houston’s mayor in 2010, she encountered a 17-year-old unsheltered youth. Much like most urban areas across the country, the city was amid a homeless crisis, and she was putting together early efforts to get people off the streets and into housing. Rather than see him as just another number, Parker got to know the young man, Jack, and his story. “His mother was dead, his dad’s in jail, and he’s being raised by grandparents who were trying to beat the gay out of him. But he was tough — he’d run away, so I’d […]

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Rep. Robert Garcia calls for more “radical homosexuals” in Congress

Out-gay Rep. Robert Garcia has said that Congress would probably work better if it had a few more “radical homosexuals”. He was responding—possibly a little light-heartedly—to a tweet from an anonymous user complaining that it was “radical homosexuals”, such as Garcia, that “controlled” Congress. Garcia, a Democrat from California, sits on both the Homeland Security and the Oversight Committees. He’s among the lawmakers who sat through Hunter Biden’s deposition last week. Garcia was quick to voice the opinion that Republicans had no evidence to connect President Joe Biden to criminal activity. Join the frontline of change Be informed, be inspired, and […]

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Trans woman Tiffany Scott dies in custody at high-security Scottish prison

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Trans prisoner Tiffany Scott has died in prison in Scotland at the age of 32. Scotland Prison Service (SPS) officials confirmed she died on Thursday (29 February), at HMP Grampian, in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. An SPS spokesperson added: “With each death in custody, Police Scotland are advised and the matter reported to the Procurator Fiscal.” An inquiry will be held in “due course.” Scott, who was initially jailed while classed as a juvenile, was serving an indefinite sentence under an order for lifelong restriction for a number of offences, including stalking a 13-year-old girl by sending letters while serving a prison […]

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Notorious Anti-LGBTQ Activist Loses Texas Primary

The Texas Tribune reports: Houston Rep. Lacey Hull has prevailed in the Republican primary against Jared Woodfill, a prominent anti-gay activist who was backed by Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Republican leaders despite his role in an ongoing sex abuse scandal. Woodfill’s campaign — and its endorsement by Paxton, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi — was perhaps the most controversial in a particularly heated primary season. Woodfill entered the race while still involved in a high-profile lawsuit that accused his former law partner, Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler, of decades of rape. Woodfill was also accused […]

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North Carolina’s Lt. Gov. faces backlash over anti-transgender remarks ahead of primaries

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Nex Benedict’s death in Oklahoma has shined the spotlight on anti-trans rhetoric in politics in other conservative states. After the transgender teenager lost his life following a school bathroom attack, North Carolina’s Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has come under intense scrutiny for his anti-transgender rhetoric.  Robinson is running for governor. As the state’s primary elections loom Tuesday, Robinson’s views have ignited a firestorm of criticism, not least because of his recent endorsement by former President Donald Trump, who called Robinson “better” than Martin Luther King Jr. Robinson has repeatedly expressed views that are antagonistic toward transgender individuals. In one of his Facebook posts, he shared a magazine cover featuring a transgender child, labeling them as […]

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Google blasted over its “woke” AI image generator, but others are racist and sexist

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Google has partly disabled its artificial intelligence (AI) image generator Gemini after the software produced racially diverse and historically inaccurate images of Black Vikings, female popes, and people of color as the United States “founding fathers.” Gemini produced these images without being prompted by users, leading right-wing critics to blast the software as “woke.” However, the incident revealed not only a technical problem but a “philosophical” one about how AI and other tech should address biases against marginalized groups. Related: “It’s clear that this feature missed the mark. Some of the images generated are inaccurate or even offensive,” Google Senior […]

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