Nearly twenty Republican legislators in Montana’s state house helped reject a bill that would have charged adults with “endangering child welfare” if they obtained gender-affirming medical care for children under the age of 16. Seventeen Republicans joined Montana Democrats to take down the bill which had already been approved by the state’s Republican majority Senate. S.B. 164 sought to penalize any adult who “knowingly procures or provides” gender-affirming care to minors, with fines up to $10,000 or imprisonment up to five years. The harsh bill didn’t just target doctors or health care providers, but any adult in the state, even those…
Author: Lauren Mulvey
With just one month’s notice, lead organizers for WorldPride 2025 – slated to take place May 17 through June 8 – have told members of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) that attendance may be dangerous for trans internationals due to the Trump Administration’s recent anti-trans policies. WTOP news reports that Ryan Bos, executive director of D.C. Capital Pride Alliance, spoke at a COG meeting and voiced his concerns on the issue. “It’s possible that we may actually issue a statement telling trans folks internationally not to come, or if they come, they come at their own risk,” Bos…
An appeals court in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago has officially re-criminalized homosexuality. The decision follows the case of Jason Jones, an activist from Trinidad and Tobago who challenged Sections 13 and 16 of the country’s Sexual Offenses Act. The sections were later found unconstitutional by High Court Justice Devindra Rampersad, making same-sex activity legal by precedent in 2018. At the time Rampersad said of his decision “This is a case about the dignity of the person, not the will of the majority or any religious view…history has proven that the two do not always coincide.” Despite this, the…
As the country and world get ready to celebrate WorldPride in Washington, DC this summer, more details about the big event are coming out every week. Recently, Rainbow History Project announced their featured exhibition entitled “Pickets, Protests, and Parades: The History of Gay Pride in Washington.” Rainbow History Project (RHP) is a non-profit volunteer-led group which has been recording LGBTQ+ history in D.C. for more than two decades. Their WorldPride exhibition will be on display between May 27 and July 6 in Freedom Plaza. Spokesperson for the organization, Emma Cieslik said the multi-display exhibition would be open 24/7 under any…
Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker stood up for trans kids and called Donald Trump a “cruel bully” at a recent Human Rights Campaign event. Pritzker has a reputation for backing LGBTQ+ rights and other civil liberties. In 2019, he signed an executive order to protect trans youth in 2019, and in 2023 he introduced legislation to prevent book bans. He spoke at the Human Rights Campaign dinner last month in L.A. about the Trump Administration’s agenda, which becomes more and more threatening with every executive order signed by Trump. “Right now it’s drag queens reading books and transgender people serving in the…
LGBTQ+ representation and censorship are still problematic topics here on Earth, but on the moon, no worries. An LGBTQ+ art piece has landed on the moon during a recent launch of two unmanned space missions carrying messages to “promote advocacy” in space. Aerospace firms Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines partnered with Interstellar Foundation and Space Pride to launch the two missions: Blue Ghost Mission 1 and IM-2 Mission. The missions contained a “milestone” Nanofiche disk with artwork etched on the surface, according to Pink News. The mission also included a digital copy of the art in a “lifeship Pyramid” inside…
Activists unleashed a 200-foot long trans pride flag in Salt Lake City last week after Utah became the first state to ban Pride flags in schools and government buildings. On March 30, thousands of LGBTQ+ people and allies flooded the streets outside the state Capitol to celebrate Trans Day of Visibility and to protest the recent legislation. With the approval of Republican governor Spencer Cox, anyone displaying a pride flag outside a school or government facility will be fined up to $500 as of May 7. Cox has previously disagreed with the bill’s rhetoric, according to Pink News, but failed…
The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has fired Black queer comedian Amber Ruffin, who was slated to deliver an address at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner this month. Ruffin was removed after the WHCA’s nine-member executive board voted unanimously to do so last week after announcing her as the dinner’s host in February. According to LGBTQ+ Nation, Ruffin said she had refused to follow the WHCA’s instructions in mocking both Republicans and Democrats in her address. Ruffin called the Republican administration “kind of a bunch of murderers” and claimed that criticizing their Democratic opponents “makes [the administration] feel like…
Kirsty Coventry is the new president of the International Olympic Committee, but where doe she stand on trans rights? Coventry is the first woman to head the committee in its history, and after being voted into the spot said “the young girl who first started swimming in Zimbabwe all those years ago could never have dreamt of this moment. Glass ceilings have been shattered today.” She competed in her first Olympics in 2000. During her participation in the Games she won Gold in 200-meter backstroke in 2004 and 2008, along with five additional medals from both years, according to Pink…
An advocacy group in Chile released a report recently indicating that 2024 was a “year of regression” for LGBTQ+ rights in the country. The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation (Movilh)’s 23rd Sexual and Gender Diversity Human Rights report noted that LGBTQ rights are regressing for the first time since Chile became a democracy in 1990. The report indicates that around 23.5 percent of human rights violations against LGBTQ people over the last two decades occurred in 2024, with a total of 2,847 discrimination reports recorded. That’s a 78.7% increase from 2023. The people most affected was the trans community…
A panel of judges for the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals has ruled that gender-affirming care for minors is an essential medical treatment for trans youth, deeming a state ban unconstitutional. The current case was brought by two families of trans youth represented by the ACLU of Ohio after the GOP introduced a bill amendment meant to undermine Obamacare. That amendment was being used to prevent essential healthcare, according to LGBTQ Nation. The ban on gender-affirming care swept through Ohio in January of 2024 after legislators approved a bill that banned hospitals from providing gender-affirming care to minors, and…
New reports reveal that an annual prevention shot for HIV has successfully passed an early safety trial. The drug, lenacapavir, has undergone its first critical testing trial in Phase I with success and is on track to become an effective and convenient preventative measure against HIV, according to The Lancet medical journal. Lenacapavir has been under medical trials for years, and just last year, research from the New England Journal of Medicine indicated that twice-yearly injections of the drug could potentially offer complete protection from HIV. Research provided findings from a randomized trial of more than 5,000 cisgender women in…
Republican lawmakers in West Virginia’s state legislature have passed a terrifying bill allowing health care providers to examine children’s genitals to identify their “biological sex” without parental consent. The bill seeks to confine gender within a binary, defining “sex” based on whether a person produces eggs or sperm, and demanding that gender-segregated spaces such as restrooms and locker rooms be used based on an individual’s sex assigned at birth. The bill would also require transgender students to face examinations at school. The West Virginia House of Delegates approved an amendment from Delegate J.B. Akers to officially allow childrens’ health care…
City councilors in Boston have voted 12-1 to make Boston a sanctuary city for members of the LGBTQ+ community. The designation came after Councilor-at-Large Julia Mejia and District 9 Councilor Liz Breadon called on the city to adopt measures to support transgender people. NBC 10 Boston reported Mejia said Boston wouldn’t back down on Wednesday. “We’re seeing attacks on our trans loved ones, and here on the local level, a lot of folks are feeling helpless.” Breadon, the first openly gay woman elected to the city council, said “many of our neighbors are feeling unsafe and insecure for various reasons,”…
A new law was passed in Hungary this week banning all Pride events. The draconian legislation officially makes holding a public Pride event a criminal offense according to Outright International. The bill, that was pushed through hastily thanks to an initiative from nationalist-populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, imposes crackdowns on civil rights throughout the country leading up to the 2026 general elections. It passed with a wide margin, with 136 votes in favor and only 27 against. The bill is aligned with Orbán’s rhetoric surrounding LGBTQ+ rights, i.e. that they are a threat to society, namely minors. The new law…
Art lovers visiting L.A. should mark their calendars to see The Broad art museum’s exhibition “Jeffrey Gibson: The Space In Which To Place Me” May 10 through Sept. 28, 2025. Gibson is a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and Cherokee by descent and he received a B.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in painting, and a masters from the Royal College of Art in London. His career’s work has centered around indigenous and LGBTQ+ experiences. This is Jeffrey Gibson’s first solo museum presentation in Southern California and will include over thirty artworks exploring…
MSNBC is doing a talent revamp to include two out gay Black men on “The Weekend,” a historic win for Black LGBTQ+ representation. “The Weekend” will be hosted by MSNBC vet Jonathan Capehart and senior Washington correspondent Eugene Daniels, who will join new Washington correspondent Jackie Alemany for a three-person panel show, according to LGBTQ Nation. Capehart and Daniels are the first two Black gay men to host a news program together under a major network. The three hosts make a highly qualified united front. Capehart is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and associate editor for the Washington Post, and current…
Following Trump’s executive order to ban transgender people from the military, the Pentagon is now saying that it will draft and submit a procedure to identify trans service members and begin discharging them. Trump introduced a similar policy in 2017 during his first presidential term, which banned the military from accepting trans enlistees, according to The Washington Blade. But the current directive takes his previous actions a step further, removing personnel unless they are granted a special waiver. When issuing his initial ban, Trump said being trans fundamentally “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful and disciplined lifestyle,…
Donald Trump has fired Amy Paris, one of the federal government’s highest ranking employees. Paris’ work for the federal government has spanned five administrations. During Biden’s term, she helped to implement trans-inclusive policies. When terminated, her role was deputy digital services lead in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) where she oversaw organ donation safety, according to LGBTQ Nation. Paris’ work over the last decade deemed her one of the highest ranking employees in U.S. federal government, second to former Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, according to The 19th. Paris told The 19th that she was told…
As a conservative, Friedrich Merz, Germany’s new chancellor holds a more traditionalist perspective when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. Here’s a brief history of the comments Merz has made about the LGBTQ+ community in recent years. According to Pink News, he opposed a marriage equality bill introduced in Germany in 2017, but has since stated that he respects the passing of the law and would not take action to undo it. Additionally, he suggested that some LGBTQ+ people might be better parents than some straight ones during conversations on same-sex adoption, though he has stated he was against the practice…
There are more out LGBTQ+ identifying Americans today than ever, and they aren’t going anywhere. According to a 2024 Gallup poll, a record 9.3% of U.S. adults now identify as LGBTQ+, an increase from just 3.5% in 2012, revealing that more Americans than ever are openly identifying as LGBTQ+. Unsurprisingly, a large portion of queer identifying people in the U.S. population are Gen Z adults. Over 20% of this group identifies as LGBTQ+ with millennials following closely behind at around 12%. The survey asks respondents to indicate whether they are straight/heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something else. Gallup indicates that…
A New Jersey agency that oversees sports across the state’s schools is refusing to change its policy on trans athletes’ participation in athletics. The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) is standing their ground and decidedly letting trans athletes continue to compete in school sports. They have confirmed they would not be making any changes to the standing policy, defying President Trump’s executive orders. Trump’s executive order entitled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” bans trans women and girls from competing in girl’s and women’s sports and threatens to revoke federal funding from educational programs that do not comply.…
A landmark study on LGBTQ+ identities from 2016 has vanished from the National Park Service’s website following the removal of LGBTQ+ content across government agency websites. The Washington Blade reports that the study was entitled “LGBTQ America: A Theme Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer History” and was commissioned by the National Park Service after they received a grant from the Gill Foundation to include LGBTQ+ historical information on their site in 2014. The Washington Blade reportedly reached out to the NPS for comment and received a response that the agency is implementing Trump’s executive order: “Defending Women…
Passport Magazine’s savvy traveler writers are not just globetrotters, they are also domestic travel dynamos who have explored the best places to visit in the USA. Here are five of the most LGBTQ+ friendly destinations in the USA that our writers have personally experienced and recommend for all travelers. AUSTIN, TEXAS “Keep Austin Weird” became a slogan so popular and impactful that it was famously copied by Portland, Oregon and other cities around the nation. Is Austin weird? Yes, in a wonderful way. It’s a college town, a liberal hippie hideout, a tech-industry magnet, and an outdoorsman’s paradise. And, despite…
The government of Tamil Nadu, a small South Indian state has proposed a new policy that would, in effect, improve the lives of LGBTQ+ residents. The proposal entitled “Draft Policy for the Welfare of LGBTQIA+ Persons” was introduced by the Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission in July of 2023. According to the Washington Blade, key points of the policy included a 1% quota for transgender and intersex people in local education and employment. However, the proposal has seen little movement since. Tamil Nadu is home to nearly 82 million people, and if the government is successful in carrying out policy…
As it becomes increasingly clear to Americans that the Trump administration has every intention of erasing trans people, references to transgender and non-binary people have literally been erased from the Stonewall National Monument’s official National Park Service page. The site, which commemorates the Stonewall Inn riots led by trans women in 1969, after police violently raided a gay bar in Greenwich Village, only briefly mentions Marsha P. Johnson. A spokesperson from The Stonewall Inn said they were “outraged and appalled” about the info scrubbing. “This blatant act of erasure not only distorts the truth of our history, but it also…
As the Trump administration pushes forward on a federal funding freeze for essential organizations and institutions nationwide, two federal judges have moved to check his power but they have been unsuccessful so far. In the early days of Trump’s second term, he directed Matthew Vaeth – director of Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) – to order all federal agencies and departments to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance.” According to LGBTQ Nation, Trump issued the freeze to stop funding initiatives that “advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social…
A recent study from Stonewall Scotland, has found that nearly 40% of LGBTQ+ citizens of the U.K. are still closeted in the workplace. The Findings indicate that two in five (39%) of LGBTQ+ employees still feel the need to hide their sexuality at work, and around 36% have heard discriminatory comments about a queer-identifying colleague, while 26% have themselves experienced negative comments or conduct from customers or clients. Some employees even reported that they believed they were fired or dismissed because of their identity. Around 31% reported they could not be themselves at work, and of these 53% have already…
While the U.S.’s basic human rights topple down with the reentry of the Trump Administration in the White House, across the Atlantic in France, public schools are rolling out new “essential” gender equality and consent curriculum. France’s Education Minister Elisabeth Borne is said to be launching a new plan to elevate sex education in schools across the country to combat sexual violence against women and girls. This good news follows a similar trend in other European countries like the U.K. which has launched new government plans to treat the worst cases of misogyny as extremism, according to reports from Pink News. …
While some conservative states are toughening restrictions on the LGBTQ+ community, and American companies are eliminating DEI programs, Michigan is expanding its hate crime law to include LGBTQ+ identities. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed the bill adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the state law in late January alongside a companion bill amending sentencing guidelines for hate crimes, according to LGBTQ Nation. The original hate crime bill was passed in 1988, and has been known as the ethnic intimidation law. The law originally applied to religion, ethnicity, and race, but the new law will extend to LGBTQ+ identities, sex,…