LGBT

LGBT

➡️ A gay former FBI official was fired by the Trump administration for having a Pride flag on his desk during the Biden administration - and now he's suing. We have the details, plus an interview with the official on the "Lavender Scare" currently spreading through the FBI. We also learn about the single congressman who voted against releasing the Epstein files, and celebrate Rep. Maxine Walters who was honored by Barney Frank at a recent PFLAG event.

[The list] was originally set up to celebrate women who inspire, encourage and empower people to experience the joy of cycling. By excluding trans and non-binary people, it's not doing what I think it was set up to do. It excludes people [who] have helped create the community that I was nominated for.

A document circulating online, an iTunes-style metadata export contained within the House Oversight Committee's publicly released files, includes several TV show titles, among them RuPaul's Drag Race, Pose, and Shadowhunters. These references simply show that the titles appeared in an exported media library; they don't indicate that RuPaul, the show's creators, or any performers had any connection to Jeffrey Epstein or his crimes, no matter how much anti-LGBTQ+ pundits may wish to spin it that way.

"The dream may come late, but it arrives in the most beautiful way."

With its plethora of LGBTQ+ bars, cabaret shows and inclusive hotels and spas, it's hard to believe that Thailand legalised same-sex marriage just 10 months ago. Fans will recall that the country lent its picture-perfect locations of Phuket and Koh Samui for The White Lotus season three's tropical backdrop. Off the back of both the HBO series and its momentous law enshrining queer rights, Thailand expected a double-dose of And they might have been right.

Actor Jonathan Bailey must have met a number of LGBTQ+ people in his career but Tuesday was still a first - when he shared the stage with gay muppets Bert and Ernie. The Wicked: For Good star took part in two short segments in the long-running children's TV show, Sesame Street. In one, he was sitting on a park bench where he was joined by furry red monster Elmo for a cuddle.

On Saturday (15 November), Australian country singer Keith Urban covered the lesbian star's song about queer acceptance and euphoria, "Pink Pony Club", at an event attended by the president and some of his wealthy pals at his resort in Palm Beach, Florida. Clips shared on Instagram by real estate agent Tali Israel, under the username @tali.florida, show Trump listening as Urban, the ex-husband of actress Nicole Kidman, sang the track for the guests.

LGBTQ+ people are significantly more likely to report being stopped, detained, and falsely accused by law enforcement compared to non-LGBTQ+ people, and it's keeping them from calling for help. A recent review of more than 25 years of research on interactions between LGBTQ+ people and law enforcement by the Williams Institute found that LGBTQ+ people were more likely than non-LGBTQ+ people to face mistreatment from police.

Many creatures exhibit same-sex behaviour but gay rams are often sent to slaughter because they can't fulfil their "breeding role." However, Rainbow Wool is now giving them a loving home. On average, one in every 12 sheep is thought to be gay. "We rescue them before that happens, giving them a safe home where they can live and love freely. Each year, their wool is crafted into fashion, with profits donated to the queer charity LSVD+," a spokesperson for the farm said.

Before the pandemic, Zakiya Gibbons was everywhere, all the time. Whenever I saw her, she was on her way to another engagement she'd double stacked that day. She's a people person. A textbook extrovert. But she lived alone during the pandemic, and like a lot of people, all that alone time made her a little neurotic. Suddenly, going on dates started to feel draining, and she experienced a social anxiety she didn't recognize in herself.

I made it clear from the start that I was strictly vers (I need it all) and that I couldn't be in an exclusive bottom/top relationship long-term. However, for one reason or another, I've only bottomed from the start. It was only once he stated that he was, to my surprise, a vers top and interested in exploring bottoming with me that I even opened up to an emotional relationship with him.

"Not in our Name" is the title of a collective of cisgender women who have written an open letter calling out the media and politicians for disseminating anti-trans rhetoric. In collaboration with the Good Law Project, the letter has so far been signed by more than 61,500 cisgender women, including high-profile figures such as Beverley Knight, Kate Nash and Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer MP.

The country's largest nonprofit health care provider will no longer offer gender-affirming care after Catholic bishops voted to ban the life-saving treatment in all church facilities. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops overwhelmingly approved the rule on Wednesday, which affects everything from hormone therapy and gender-affirming surgeries to talk therapy and other mental health services for all ages. While facilities run by the Catholic Church typically have not offered the care, the vote makes denial the official policy.

"The first thought I had was, 'Wow, I sound really gay', he said. 'And then I thought, I am gay. What's wrong with sounding gay?' This, he explained, led him onto 'gay voice'. He opined that 'if you're in the gay community, you are on the spectrum of gay voice. Everybody's on the spectrum.' Placing himself as a 'moderate gay voice person,' Jackson said he'd spent years being 'very afraid to come across as gay.'"

Many of us idealize a day in which no one needs to "come out," when wherever someone falls on the gender or sexuality spectrum is accepted and embraced. Sadly, today is not that day - the world can be cruel (and often is) to anyone who doesn't fit into the heteronormative bubble. But if you're here, it probably means the last thing you want to do is contribute to the mental and emotional toll put on LGBTQ young people.

Apple has confirmed that it has removed two of China's most popular gay dating apps - Blued and Finka - from its app store in the country following an order from authorities. "We follow the laws of the countries where we operate. Based on an order from the Cyberspace Administration of China, we have removed these two apps from the China storefront only," an Apple spokesperson said.

I remember the moment it happened - the single spark that set my body aflame. Cecelia stood behind me on the Pilates reformer and pressed her legs into my back, her hands into my shoulders. The strength of her long, lean limbs drove me into submission. Her perfectly-highlighted blonde hair tickled the back of my neck. "Connect your pubic bone to your sternum. Hold it." Her voice was deep, throaty.

Doctors had told her she was a boy, but that she had an illness, which was why she couldn't urinate standing up. They told me this is a problem, the 60-year-old from Hong Kong says. And that in the future, you cannot marry, you cannot have a baby, so you need to have surgeries. Having been bullied at school for her ambiguous gender presentation, she found the idea that she could be modified back to normal a compelling one.

Members of the congregation have painted the church's front steps in rainbow colors in what its pastor, the Rev. Rachel Griffin-Allison, calls an act of "sacred resistance." Church leaders and congregants wanted "to make sure that our neighborhood had a visible, bold statement to say that they are not being erased," she says. Oak Lawn is a heavily LGBTQ+ enclave, and Griffin-Allison sees her church as a sanctuary for the community in Dallas and all of Texas.

China's main internet regulator and censorship authority ordered Apple to remove two very popular gay dating apps its App Store last weekend: Blued, an app with an estimated 56 million users; and Finka, which has 2.7 million users. The apps remain functional Chinese people who've already downloaded them, but their removal is just part of China's ongoing crackdown and censorship campaign against its LGBTQ+ citizens.

Eight nurses are challenging a policy which allows the single-sex room at Darlington Memorial Hospital to be used by Rose Henderson, a biological male who identifies as a woman.

Last week's election triumph for incoming NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani got attention for a lot of reasons, among them the fact that he's one active politician who remains openly supportive of trans communities-as opposed to demonizing them for conservative brownie points, or avoiding the subject whenever possible like most mainstream Dems now. It was a rare piece of good news in that sphere these days, after years of transpersons being the target of choice for gratuitous, paranoid attacks