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Electric Shock Treatment, Overt Homophobia in U.K. Armed Forces: Repor

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An upcoming government report on homophobia in the U.K. armed forces will show a climate of blatant homophobia, incidents of blackmail and sexual assaults, and a campaign of drugs and electric shock treatment to “cure” LGBTQ+ service members of their homosexuality. The report, which covers 1967 to 2000, when the country’s ban on LGBTQ+ service members ended, is set for release next month and an advance copy was seen by Bloomberg. Commissioned last year by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the report contains over a thousand anonymous submissions from individuals who served in the U.K. military between 1967 to 2000. Terence Etherton, […]

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Vermont Bookstore Fights Book Bans with Pride Readathon for June

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A bookstore in Vermont is fighting back against calls to limit LGBTQ+ literature for young readers by hosting its first-ever Pride Readathon to raise funds for a summer camp for LGBTQ+ kids. Bear Pond Books in Montpelier will be hosting a Pride Readathon the entire month of June where participants will raise funds for every LGBTQ+ book they read. Bear Pond Books has a goal of raising $40,000 to support Outright Vermont’s Camp Outright, a summer camp that lets LGBTQ+ kids be themselves while taking part in a typical group camp experience. A private donor has offered to match the funds raised up to $20,000 in the Pride […]

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U.S. judge blocks Florida ban on care for trans minors in narrow ruling, says ‘gender identity is real’

A federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling Tuesday that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment. Judge Robert Hinkle issued a preliminary injunction, saying three transgender children can continue receiving treatment. The lawsuit challenges the law Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed shortly before he announced a run for president. “The elephant in the room should be noted at the outset. Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” Hinkle said, adding that even a witness for the state agreed. Transgender medical treatment for minors is increasingly under […]

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Moms For Liberty Harasses Florida High School Into Reprinting Yearbook Without Pages On LGBTQ Students

The Orlando Sentinel reports: Seminole County Public Schools is offering to reprint this year’s Lyman High School yearbook and remove two pages for parents upset about LGBTQ+ content, prompting criticism that the district isn’t standing up to bigotry. The pages highlight the school’s LGBTQ+ community and provide definitions of terms such as genderfluid and pansexual. A few parents and students found those pages “inappropriate,” and now the district is offering refunds or reprinted yearbooks with the pages in question removed. Jessica Tillmann, chapter chair of the Seminole County Moms for Liberty, said she is concerned about the definitions in the yearbook because […]

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Trans woman’s lecture canceled due to Montana’s new drag ban

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A library in Montana has canceled a transgender Cheyenne woman guest speaker, saying that her appearance at the library could violate the state’s new drag ban. Adria Jawort – who made headlines last year when she won a lawsuit against a conservative, straight, white male pastor who called her mentally ill – was set to speak at the Butte Public Library last Friday as part of the library’s Pride Month programming. She was going to speak about “Montana History of Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Peoples.” But the library canceled her appearance on Thursday afternoon. A librarian emailed her and said that […]

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Republicans prove how vile and frightening they can be

Day after day we see Republicans trying to outdo each other in how vile and frightening they can be. From the fight over the debt ceiling, to their presidential primary, they continue to try to take the nation backwards.  In the debt ceiling fight, they clearly say, “We will protect the wealthy in our country at all costs, and instead will cut, or eliminate, programs to help the poor.” The far-right wing crazies like Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Chip Roy (R-Texas), and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), are threatening their own speaker, Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), with the […]

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Nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group declares state of emergency

The Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency for LGBTQ people in the U.S. on Tuesday and a released “a guidebook for action” summarizing what it calls discriminatory laws in each state, along with “know your rights” information and health and safety resources. Sounding the alarm about the current political environment, the nation’s largest organization devoted to the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Americans said advisories warning against travel to dangerous places aren’t enough to help people already living in so-called hostile states. The campaign said it’s taking action in response to an unprecedented and dangerous spike in […]

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How to avoid rainbow-washing and truly support LGBTQ employees during Pride Month

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With Pride Month officially underway, businesses will be finalising their plans to celebrate and support their LGBTQ+ employees and colleagues. We share some suggestions on how to truly champion LGBTQ+ employees beyond the standard gestures of solidarity. The month of June serves as a time when the entire LGBTQ+ community can unite and remember the progress made, all while addressing the ongoing issues that are impacting the community. As this year has already been plagued with hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ laws and homophobic rhetoric in the news, Pride should also serve as a time to stand up and against the bigotry that has […]

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Global survey finds 9% of adults identify as LGBTQ

Nearly 1 in 10 adults across 30 countries identify as LGBTQ, according to a new global survey, but that number tells only part of the story. Age and geographic location played a central role in the findings, with younger respondents and those in more progressive countries significantly more likely to be included in that top-line number. Demographics, including gender, also figured noticeably in respondents’ views on issues like transgender discrimination and same-sex marriage.  Ipsos, a market-research company, surveyed 22,514 participants in 30 countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia in February and March, and found that 3% identified as lesbian or […]

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Florida teachers forced to explain they’re not teaching kids to be gay

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Members of a culture-warring Florida school district spent a contentious eight-and-a-half hours at a school board meeting expressing their exasperation with the divisiveness plaguing the schools. According to the Tampa Bay Times, topics at the meeting included book bans, LGBTQ+ rights, and the “overall direction of the … district and its closely divided board.” Many speakers (there were over 100) denounced the right-wing propaganda claiming teachers are indoctrinating children to be LGBTQ+.  “No one is teaching your kids to be gay!” said former math teacher Alyssa Marano, who recently resigned from the Hernando school district. “Sometimes, they just are gay. I have […]

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