Joe.My.God. LGBT News

Recode reports: Twitter’s iconic 140-character limit for tweets may be on the way out. In the hope that it will encourage more people to post, Twitter is doubling the number of characters that some users get for a tweet. The test means that a small group of Twitter users will now get 280 characters per tweet instead of the traditional …

The Guardian reports: Two weeks after she put herself at odds with her father, the country’s former prime minister, with a post on Instagram, Frances Abbott has appeared in an advert calling on Australians to back marriage equality in the country’s non-binding, voluntary survey. “You can’t help who you fall in love with. Love just happens sometimes and it’s unexpected …

The Washington Post reports: The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $25,000 to construct a secure, soundproof communications booth in the office of Administrator Scott Pruitt, according to government contracting records. The agency signed a $24,570 contract earlier this summer with Acoustical Solutions, a Richmond-based company, for a “privacy booth for the administrator.” The company sells and installs an array …

The Tennessean reports: Sen. Bob Corker said Tuesday he will not seek re-election next year. “After much thought, consideration and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires at the end of 2018,” the Chattanooga Republican said in a statement. “When I ran for the …

The Associated Press reports: Saudi Arabia says it will allow women to drive for the first time in the ultra-conservative kingdom. The kingdom, which announced the change on Tuesday, was the only the country in the world to bar women from driving and for years had garnered negative publicity internationally for detaining women who defied the ban. Women’s rights activists …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump said Tuesday that the United States opposes an independence drive in the Spanish region of Catalonia, telling reporters that such secession would be “foolish.” “I think Spain is a great country, and it should remain united,” Trump said during a news conference with the visiting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. The president’s remarks mark …

Politico reports: Senate Republicans do not intend to vote on the Graham-Cassidy bill, putting an end to their Obamacare repeal effort for now. The decision was reached Tuesday after it became clear the bill would fail. Three Senate Republicans had said they would vote against the measure, and the GOP could only afford two defections. Last night Jimmy Kimmel spiked …

Via press release: Today, HRC hailed the Birmingham City Council for passing city-wide non-discrimination protections that include sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, public accommodations and employment. This ordinance is the culmination of more than ten years of work from local LGBTQ grassroots organizers and a pro-equality coalition including Equality Alabama and HRC. “Today, the City of Birmingham made …

Via press release: More than two million cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were reported in the United States in 2016, the highest number ever, according to the annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The majority of these new diagnoses (1.6 million) were cases of chlamydia. There were also …

Trump will surely be grilled about the NFL, Puerto Rico, Trumpcare, and North Korea. But the Spanish prime minister’s presence will add a unique wrinkle to the press conference. Bloomberg reports: Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington Tuesday while his team back in Madrid attempts to turn the screws on a secessionist push …