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Gay club owner faces backlash over nearly $10,000 in Republican Party donations

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The new owner of two historically pro-LGBTQ+ bars has come under fire for making a number of donations to the Republican Party, totalling nearly $10,000.  A former employee of The Union Cafe and Axis Nightclub, two LGBTQ-friendly establishments in Columbus, Ohio, called out new owner Michael Purdum for contributing thousands of dollars to Republican Party officials. Nicholas Elkovitch detailed the accusations in a Facebook message on 25 August, following his dismissal after nearly nine years of working in various roles at both establishments, including as restaurant manager, promotions director and entertainment booker. He said that several other senior members had also been dismissed […]

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Georgia can resume enforcing ban on hormone therapy for trans youths, judge says

Georgia can resume enforcing a ban on hormone replacement therapy for transgender people under 18, a judge ruled Tuesday, putting her previous order blocking the ban on hold after a federal appeals court allowed Alabama to enforce a similar restriction. Attorneys for the state had asked Judge Sarah Geraghty to vacate the preliminary injunction in light of the Alabama decision. Geraghty did not go that far, but she also said keeping her injunction in place was not possible after last month’s ruling on Alabama’s law by a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Georgia. She instead issued a stay, or hold, […]

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‘Polysexual’ and ‘amalgagender’ are among Dictionary.com’s newest words

“Polysexual,” “amalgagender” and “gay marry” are among the new words and phrases added to Dictionary.com this year, in a revision that also included the removal of gendered pronouns from hundreds of definitions, the company announced Wednesday.  The online dictionary added 566 new words, many of which relate to identity and relationships, pop culture and artificial intelligence. Several new words describing identity and relationships involve the LGBTQ community.   “Gender and identity have been particularly dynamic, and productive areas of language change in the past 15 years or so,” John Kelly, vice president of editorial at Dictionary.com, told NBC News. “Whether it be socially […]

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Campus Pride Dumps Florida and Texas Universities from Best of Best List

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Campus Pride won’t include Florida or Texas schools in its list of best colleges and universities for LGBTQ+ students to attend. Instead, the organization issued a “red alert” warning the schools will inevitably fall in rankings and that state leaders have put institutions’ academic reputations at risk.  “Campus Pride stands by every campus being negatively impacted by anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the states of Florida and Texas,” said Campus Pride founder, CEO, and executive director Shane Mendez Windmeyer. “Higher education must instill values of diversity and inclusion in order to create a quality, productive workforce. The classroom must be safe, and create […]

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Queer Irish people and allies form human chain to protect library from anti-LGBTQ book protest

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A crowd of counter-protestors formed a human shield around a city centre library in Ireland, enabling it to remain open despite a right-wing rally taking place on the street outside.  Cork City Library has been the focus of right-wing anger ire for months, with people harassing library staff in an attempt to get LGBTQ+ books removed from its shelves.  On Saturday (2 September), about 300 people turned out in support of the library and its staff, and in opposition to the Ireland Says No rally, which was organised by conservative groups.  The city council was previously forced to shut the […]

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These affirmations for LGBTQ+ people can calm your anxiety & grow your self-confidence

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The vitriol directed at the LGBTQ+ community lately can feel defeating, and studies have shown that anxiety levels for queer folks have skyrocketed. But psychologists have also developed a simple technique you can do anywhere to calm yourself and grow your feelings of self-worth. You only need your mobile device or a laptop to feel better using “positive affirmation.” “People wish to view themselves as competent, compassionate, and worthy individuals, but their attitudes, intentions,and behaviors do not always match this ideal,” according to psychological researchers Clayton R. Critcher and David Dunning. “As such, people possess an eclectic toolkit of strategies […]

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LGBTQ+ group banned from marching in town’s Labor Day parade for the “safety of the public”

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An LGBTQ+ group was banned from participating in an Iowa town’s Labor Day parade, reportedly at the behest of the mayor. On Thursday, just days before the parade in Essex, Iowa, members of Shenandoah Pride say they received an email from Mayor Calvin Kinney on behalf of the city. “Out of concern for the safety of the public and that of Essex Labor Day parade participants, the City of Essex has determined not to allow parade participants geared toward the promotion of, or opposition to, the politically charged topic of gender and/or sexual identification/orientation,” the email read. “This parade will not […]

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Hong Kong’s top court rules in favor of legal recognition for same-sex partnerships

An activist detained in Hong Kong partially won his final appeal Tuesday seeking recognition for same-sex marriage registered overseas, in a landmark court ruling that is likely to have a far-reaching impact on the city’s LGBTQ+ community. Jimmy Sham, a prominent pro-democracy activist during 2019 anti-government protests, married his husband in New York 10 years ago. Sham first asked for a judicial review in 2018 arguing that Hong Kong’s laws, which don’t recognize foreign same-sex marriage, violate the constitutional right to equality. The lower courts had dismissed his challenges. Sham has been in custody after being charged under a Beijing-imposed national security law following the […]

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Conservative book ban push fuels exodus from American Library Association

After parents in a rural and staunchly conservative Wyoming county joined nationwide pressure on librarians to pull books they considered harmful to youngsters, the local library board obliged with new policies making such books a higher priority for removal — and keeping out of collections. But that’s not all the library board has done. Campbell County also withdrew from the American Library Association, in what’s become a movement against the professional organization that has fought against book bans. Public libraries try to stay politically neutral as calls for defunding, censorship increase AUG. 16, 202204:23 This summer, the state libraries in […]

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Florida LGBTQ+ ‘safe places’ program under threat from Republican lawmakers

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A number of Republican lawmakers in central Florida have warned against the state’s LGBTQ+ Safe Place Initiative and said they are considering “all legislative, legal and executive options available” to prevent it from going ahead. The city-sponsored program, which is in operation in the town of Mount Dora, gives local business owners the option to display rainbow decals in their windows to inform members of the LGBTQ+ community who feel threatened that they are a ‘safe place’. “The mission of the Safe Place Initiative is to provide the community with easily accessible safety information and safe places throughout the city they can […]

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