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Only half of LGBTQ+ people feel comfortable coming out at work, study finds

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A survey has found that a slim majority – just over half – of LGBTQ+ people in the UK feel comfortable being “out” in the workplace. The study by consultancy firm Deloitte found that 52 per cent of the 402 LGBTQ+ Brits polled were comfortable being openly queer at work, compared to 43 per cent of the 5,474 LGBTQ+ people polled worldwide. The survey also found that 43 per cent of LGBTQ+ people in the UK fear being seen differently by their straight, cisgender colleagues, compared to 39 per cent of respondents globally.  Deloitte polled queer people from 13 countries for the […]

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Supreme Court rules for web designer who refused to work on same-sex weddings

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of an evangelical Christian web designer from Colorado who refuses to work on same-sex weddings in a decision that deals a setback to LGBTQ rights. The justices, divided 6-3 on ideological lines, said that Lorie Smith, as a creative professional, has a free speech right under the Constitution’s First Amendment to refuse to endorse messages she disagrees with. As a result, she cannot be punished under Colorado’s antidiscrimination law for refusing to design websites for gay couples, the court said. The ruling could allow other similar business owners to evade punishment under laws in 29 states that protect […]

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Delaware state senator Sarah McBride launches bid to be first trans member of Congress

The highest-ranking transgender elected official in the United States, Sarah McBride, has launched a bid to become Delaware’s sole member of the US House of Representatives. McBride is currently a senator in the Delaware state legislature and, if successful, would become the first trans person to be elected to federal office.  Lisa Blunt Rochester, the state’s current house representative, announced last week that she would be running at the next election to replace senator Tom Carper, who is retiring.  Speaking to Delaware Online, McBride said she was “certainly cognisant of the uniqueness of my candidacy, of the uniqueness that my voice would […]

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Arizona governor’s executive actions ban conversion therapy, allow trans health care

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs issued two pro-LGBTQ executive orders on Tuesday, banning state support of so-called conversion therapy and allowing transgender state employees to receive gender-affirming health care under their insurance plan. Hobbs made the announcement from the offices of a central Phoenix nonprofit that focuses on helping LGBTQ youth. Under the executive actions, state agencies will be prohibited from using funds to promote or facilitate so-called conversion therapy, the scientifically discredited practice of using therapy to “convert” LGBTQ people to heterosexuality or traditional gender expectations. Also, state employee health insurance plans can no longer list gender-affirming surgery as ineligible […]

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LGBTQ+ elders feel ‘excluded and isolated’ in a community ‘geared towards younger people’, study finds

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A UK-based charity dedicated to LGBTQ+ people over 50 has revealed that many feel “excluded and isolated” in a community “geared towards younger people”. Research by Opening Doors found people over the age of 50 “especially within the gay community” feel less visible due to being less likely to have “familial networks”.  Due to “distrust in the system”, the charity also found that older people often go without help from external support networks.  John Campbell, who identifies as androsexual, said his experience as an older LGBTQ+ person has been “trying at times, owing to the amount of emotional trauma”.  ‘I feel excluded’  […]

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Pride organizers describe timid sponsors and tighter security but no mass corporate retreat

Some corporate sponsors have kept lower profiles at Pride celebrations this year, but most have not tightened their purse strings or ditched LGBTQ causes in the face of conservative blowback, event organizers and advocates say. Many Pride organizers across the country say high-profile brand backlashes, restrictive legislation and heightened threats against LGBTQ people have fueled record crowd turnout this year. While that has often meant spending more to keep attendees safe, the polarized climate has also kept sponsorship dollars flowing to Pride events and the groups they support. Nearly 78% of U.S. Pride organizers surveyed this year by InterPride, a network of Pride events around […]

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Mexico City is trans-friendly. You can see it on the streets

North America’s largest metropolis, Mexico City, also hosts the continent’s biggest Pride parade and festival. While the LGBTQ+ community is impossible to ignore in June, what about the other months of the year?  Visitors can see queer couples holding hands and kissing in shopping centers, streets, and parks. Another common site is murals and graffiti. But a closer look at the spray paint can reveal something about CDMX’strans community. Graffiti supporting women’s rights, specifically including trans women and lesbians, are common along Paseo de Reforma, one of the main avenues of the city. Over 90,000 women and girls marched down the street on […]

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NHL bans players from wearing rainbow-colored Pride jerseys

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The National Hockey League (NHL), the highest level professional ice hockey league representing 32 North American teams, has banned teams from wearing Pride-themed warm-up jerseys during the teams’ LGBTQ+-inclusive Pride nights. The NHL’s ban will also forbid teams from wearing jerseys commemorating military veterans, people with cancer, and others. The league’s decision comes during Pride Month and barely a week after Major League Baseball (MLB) announced a similar ban. When a gay couple was shown kissing in the stadium, he said “That’s disgusting. Security, get rid of them.” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman recently talk to Sportsnet about the rainbow-colored jerseys and how some […]

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Walgreens refuses to give trans man his hormone prescription due to ‘religious beliefs’

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A Californian transgender man claims a pharmacist at a Walgreens chain in Oakland refused to hand over his hormone replacement medicine due to their “religious beliefs”. In a Reddit post made on Tuesday (20 June), 30-year-old trans Oakland resident Roscoe Rike wrote that he had entered the pharmacy to pick up his prescription when he was asked by an employee what the medication was for. “I told him I was pretty sure that it wasn’t any of his business,” he said in the post which has since been deleted. Rike explained that he had been going to the Walgreens pharmacy on Telegraph Avenue […]

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Kamala Harris Makes Historic Visit to Stonewall Inn, Vows to Fight Anti-LGBTQ+ Hate

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Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise visit on Monday to the historic Stonewall Inn bar in Manhattan, where the 1969 uprising sparked the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement and Prideevents worldwide. In doing so, she became the first sitting vice president to make a stop there. Harris first saw Christopher Park, which is part of the Stonewall National Monument established by former President Barack Obama in 2016. The park sits adjacent to the bar and has been repeatedly targeted by vandals in recent weeks. Harris visited the monument with National Park Service Superintendent Shirley McKinney, who briefed and gave her a tour. One of the bar’s […]

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