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First-ever Malawi Pride sees brave activists deliver demands to the president

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Braving the threat of persecution, dozens of queer people packed the streets of the capital of Malawi for the country’s first-ever Pride parade Saturday (26 June). Organised by the Nyasa Rainbow Alliance, some 50 LGBT+ people marched through the streets of Lilongwe in a show of defiance. After an hour-long march through winding but silent thoroughfares as masked attendees sang and danced, the protesters handed a petition over to city officials demanding marriage equality and better access to healthcare, Malawi 24 reported. Principal administrative officer for Lilongwe City Council, Hudson Kuphanga, told the outlet he has received the petition and pledged to […]

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Gay widower takes on Hong Kong’s government; wins victory for LGBT+ rights

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Same-sex couples in Hong Kong will now be allowed to own subsidised housing together after a landmark High Court ruling which saw a gay widower take on the government. Henry Li was not able to inherit the government-subsidised flat his late husband Edgar Ng bought in 2018 after they wed in the UK because the city’s housing policies deny same-sex partners joint occupancy and ownership rights. The court said that the refusal to acknowledge married same-sex couples in Hong Kong’s subsidised housing policies “constitute[s] unlawful discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation”. Justice Anderson Chow, who presided over the case, […]

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Pride means knowing LGBTQ history — including that of Indigenous Two-Spirit people

As cities around the United States celebrated Pride this month — including here in Denver on Saturday — there’s been a great deal of attention given to the prominent role that transgender folks have played in the LGBTQ rights movement in the country. There’s also been a serious look into the ways anti-LGBTQ jackals have disproportionately focused their attention on trans people and trans kids over the last few years. But, as with every June, there is often less acknowledgment given to the fact that Indigenous LGBTQ people were the first people on this continent victimized by the white Christians […]

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Pride merch won’t save trans youth

ust before the start of Pride Month, Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, began selling a wide variety of rainbow-themed merchandise. A perusal of the company’s website reveals hundreds of such items for sale, like a Queer Eye-branded clothing line and tie-ins from rainbow-themed brands like Skittles and the Kellogg Company. You can even buy a shirt that reads: “I can’t even think straight.” Walmart earned a perfect 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2021 Corporate Equality Index, which scores companies based on their support of LGBTQ employees through HR policies, practices, and benefits, as well as their public advocacy. Earlier […]

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Biden administration working for equity in the workplace

Pride month is a chance for LGBTQ+ people to be proud and visible in a world that tells us not to be. Pride month is a chance to celebrate and honor the work of LGBTQ+ people as we fight every day for equity and inclusion in society, in the law and in our workplaces.  Thanks to the tireless work of advocates, we’ve had many recent encouraging wins at the national level: Last June, in Bostock vs. Clayton County, the Supreme Court affirmed that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act protects employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation and […]

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NFL says ‘Football is gay’ in new commercial that makes clear its support of LGBTQ+ community

As Pride Month comes to a close, the NFL has released a new commercial that makes clear its support and embrace of the LGBTQ+ community.  The 30-second spot begins with the line, “Football is gay” as light cheering plays in the background. “Football is lesbian. Football is beautiful. Football is queer. Football is life. Football is exciting. Football is culture. Football is transgender. Football is queer. Football is heart. Football is power. Football is tough. Football is bisexual. Football is strong. Football is freedom. Football is American. Football is accepting. Football is everything. Football is for everyone.”  The video is a direct response to Carl Nassib’s […]

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Biden Appoints Special Envoy On LGBTQ Rights

The Hill reports: President Biden on Friday named Jessica Stern as the State Department’s U.S. special envoy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons, an announcement that coincides with the White House’s celebration of Pride month. The position was left vacant under the administration of former President Trump. Biden will introduce Stern during remarks in the East Room Friday afternoon outlining his administration’s agenda to advance rights of LGBTQ+ people in the United States, the White House said. Stern is currently the executive director at OutRight Action International, a group that advocates for human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and […]

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Supreme Court won’t hear dispute over bathrooms for transgender students

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the issue of whether the nation’s schools must allow students to use the bathroom that match their gender identities. The court declined, without comment, to hear the case of Gavin Grimm, who has been at the center of a long legal battle with the school board in Gloucester County, Virginia. Grimm was born female but identified as male after his freshman year in high school, legally changing his name and beginning hormone therapy. The principal at first gave him permission to use the boys’ bathroom, but the school board later adopted a policy saying […]

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Pride is more than a rainbow

Pride season is here. Tens of thousands of ATMs across the country will sport rainbow adornments, Target and H&M will devote sections of their stores to a panoply of rainbow trinkets and garments, companies from nearly every business segment in America will wish the LGBTQ community a “Happy Pride.” Rainbow flags will be festooned across storefronts nationwide and then disappear. What many companies fail to realize is this annual ritual known as ‘rainbow washing,’ can have unintended negative consequences. Pride is 24/7/365 and companies that relegate their LGBTQ outreach to one month a year are often perceived as pandering and […]

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They fought for gay marriage. A decade later, advocates reflect on the ‘herculean feat.’

Today, 70 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. But on June 24, 2011, when the New York Legislature passed the state’s marriage equality measure, only 46 percent did, barely surpassing the 45 percent who opposed the right of gay couples to wed.  Five years earlier, in 2006, the New York Court of Appeals had determined the state constitution did not guarantee same-sex couples the right to marry. That left advocates with only a legislative remedy.  Failed attempts to pass marriage equality measures in 2007 and 2009, however, left supporters deflated.  Christine Quinn, an out lesbian who served as speaker of the New York […]

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