two seniors from Arroyo Grande High School spoke out against a transgender peer competing on their track and field team and allegedly "watching" them in the girls' locker room. One of the Central Coast students said she is "more comfortable" changing in her car now. The other cited a Bible verse about God creating men and women separately, and accused the California Interscholastic Federation of subjecting girls to "exploitative and intrusive behavior that is disguised through transgender ideology."
It can be tough being gay in a straight man's world. When it comes to figuring out our identities, we often have to negotiate our desires with the preconceived expectations around us. This was especially the case for folks who grew up when there was scant representation. Certain attractions may have bubbled, but they remained nameless. Still, that doesn't mean they went unheeded. Gay people have found themselves for centuries.
Black History Month is a time to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements and courageous acts of people of African descent in the United States and around the world. This year, Black History month celebrates its 100th anniversary. And yet, Black History Month has failed to fully acknowledge or celebrate the contributions of Black LGBTQ+ people. Just as Pride Month remains overwhelmingly white in its representation, Black History Month continues to be deeply homophobic in its omissions.
Civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson died on February 17, 2026. A protégé of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson was among the last remaining icons of the modern Civil Rights Movement. Known for his fiery oratory, he was often called "the Country Preacher," a moniker that reflected both his humble roots and his lifelong commitment to advocating for the disenfranchised.
Federal Election Commission records reviewed by The Advocate show that Thiel gave two $3,500 donations on December 24, 2025, to Yarbrough's campaign, one designated for the primary and one for the general election, for a combined $7,000, the maximum an individual can contribute under federal law when splitting donations that way. The contributions and Yarbrough's remarks were first reported by The Guardian, which traced the donor network now coalescing around his candidacy.
I had a close male friend who is openly gay (I am non-binary, assigned female at birth). We had a lot in common, became close really quickly, and started spending a lot of time together. Slowly, I realized I was falling for him, and one evening after a party, I confessed. On the spot, he took it really well. He said his feelings are entirely platonic and that he likes me as a person.
"Coming out was a tough time for me," he admitted, adding: "The first ever person I told was actually a sports psychologist because I wasn't really performing very well." He continued: "I wasn't really enjoying my curling. But I really think that it helped me to feel comfortable within the team environment and now, 12 years later, I'm going to my second Olympics feeling pretty good about myself."
I wanted to mention Kenneth Williams because he was so profound, Allen tells me. And yet, because he was also funny, that profundity hasn't been acknowledged. As a child, I connected with his outsiderness. Rather than trying to fit in, he went in the opposite direction. Not only did he not apologise for being different, but he was queer in every sense, truly at odds with the world in which he found himself.
As has become all too apparent from the current political climate, the gays aren't being put in charge of enough institutions these days. Straight men are ruining everything from finance to politics to streaming-but in Silicon Valley, "gays run [the] joint," according to a new exposé from Wired. There have been rumblings about an elite gay tech autocracy in Silicon Valley for quite some time now, even before gay tech billionaire Peter Thiel was outed by Gawker way back
On Thursday, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed House Bill 1473, a measure that asserts private citizens and organizations in the state are not bound by the Fourteenth Amendment or by the Supreme Court's 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges when it comes to recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples. The bill also shields people from professional discipline if they refuse to officiate or celebrate weddings or commitment ceremonies that fall outside Tennessee's statutory definition of marriage.
I think regardless of being an ally, just on a personal level I'd say 80 per cent of my success is down to the gays. Like, not even just from a fan-based perspective, my team around me, the people I grew up with, the people in my life when I moved to London, my close friends,
"When I told the kids, I just felt like all that bullying, all that fear and all of that, I guess, abuse I went through as a kid, I was putting on to them," Appleton told Attwood. "As a parent, all you want to do is protect your kids. If someone hits your kids in the playground, you want to go find the f***** and kill them. You just say, 'Who was it?' You have that protective instinct to protect them from harm."
San Antonio recently unveiled new rainbow sidewalks in its Pride heritage district to replace the rainbow crosswalks that city workers removed in January, following anti-LGBTQ+ orders from the Trump administration and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R). Local residents had expressed disappointment towards the city's first out lesbian Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones
Olympic hockey star Hilary Knight proposed to U.S. Olympic speed skater Brittany Bowe, Outsports reported, getting down on one knee and presenting a ring in a red box in the Olympic Village. Bowe excitedly held her hands in front of her face and nodded in acceptance before leaping into Knight's arms and excitedly showing her ring to the camera while embracing her fiancée.
It's his sort-of coming out story imbued with the trauma of losing his mother Amy to ovarian cancer, told via a 2000-slide PowerPoint presentation and finished off with a genuinely impressive magic trick (Sharp was a childhood magician). On the subject of finishing, it's an abundance of sordid sex tales that fill the gaps between Sharp's god-fearing childhood in America's south, and his mother's crushing death in 2010.
The first out transgender member of the U.S. Congress took the world stage in Germany last week, warning that attacks on people like her and on LGBTQ+ rights more broadly are being weaponized in the current political climate, as she joined former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on a high-profile panel at the Munich Security Conference.
The skater was shocked to see the message was from Madonna herself. "I have to tell you, I was blown away by it," the pop legend told the queer athlete in the video. "You are an incredible skater. So strong, so beautiful, so brave. "I can't imagine that you would not win. So I just want to say good luck. Go get that gold."
Arnaud discussed maintaining his levelheadedness in the midst of Heated Rivalry mania, considering past moments in his career where he felt on the brink of success. "There were moments where I thought that something approaching this level of attention or scrutiny was gonna happen," he said. "I tested for Fifty Shades of Grey, for instance, and I was like, 'Oh, am I ready to sign my life away, in a sense?'"
Palmer's declaration of asexuality doesn't mean that she experiences absolutely no romantic feelings towards others (which is known as "aromanticism," or "aro" for short). In fact, asexual people can have partners just as other LGBTQ+ people do, and some even choose to engage in sexual activity from time-to-time, just as predominantly straight- or gay-identified individuals might sexually engage with people of different genders without ever identifying as bisexual or pansexual.
The corner of 14th and U streets, Northwest, is now home to six LGBTQ bars, with just over 300 feet separating the nightlife options. The spots have all opened their doors over the past few years, bringing dramatic changes to a corner long associated with the District's bar scene. The recent wave began with 2023's opening of Bunker, a dance-focused space run by Zach Renovátes. He also operates a nearby bar, the District Eagle, that bills itself as "a home for DC's kink communities."
