Tag Archives: LGBT youth

Paging you-know-who. Via GLAAD: The Disney Channel show “Andi Mack” will break new ground for the network during its second season premiere this Friday, October 27 at 8pm ET/PT when it introduces its first LGBTQ storyline. In the episode, Andi’s friend Cyrus lets Buffy know that he has a crush on the same boy Andi does. In the episode, Cyrus …

Fortune reports: Would you rather stand up for a damaged meal or a damaged child? According to Burger King, most would choose the former. The fast food giant rolled out a public service announcement today in honor of National Bullying Prevention Month that uses a clever social experiment to demonstrate how people often refuse to speak out against bullies. As …

Posted today to Major League Baseball’s website: We still have the blue of the Dodgers and Cubs, the Yankees’ navy, and Houston’s navy and orange. Now you can add postseason purple as well. Today is Spirit Day, and Major League Baseball and all 30 clubs are again taking a united stand against bullying by joining GLAAD in “going purple” to …

Via press release: GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, today announced participants in Spirit Day. Taking place on October 19, Spirit Day inspires millions around the world to wear purple or ‘go purple’ online in a unified stand against bullying and to show support for LGBTQ youth. To support this effort, Kellogg Company launched a video featuring its …

Andy Humm reports at Gay City News: Abel Cedeno, 18, the bullied gay teen charged with killing one classmate, Matthew McCree, 15, and wounding another, Ariane Laboy, 16, with a knife spoke to Gay City News from Rikers Island on Sunday, recounting the incident, the anti-gay bullying that preceded it for years, and the way it intensified on September 27 …

Via press release: Friday the 13th at 6pm, the Ali Forney Center (AFC) will host the 8th annual A Place At The Table gala, an event that has raised millions of dollars to support a host of vital services including shelter and medical care for the homeless LGBTQ youths at AFC. This year also marks 15 years since AFC was …

The Guardian reports: A Brazilian judge has approved gay “conversion therapy” in a ruling which prompted widespread outrage and raised fears of a conservative backlash. Waldemar de Carvalho, a federal judge in the capital of Brasília, overruled a 1999 decision by the Federal Council of Psychology that forbade psychologists from offering widely discredited treatments which claims to “cure” gay people. …

From the Facebook page of Nicholas County Democrats: On Tuesday morning, September 5th, 2017, an openly gay student from Clay County High School in Clay, West Virginia, boarded the school bus of part-time driver, Robert Belt, and sat down beside another student. Allegedly, Robert Belt, also a full-time Clay County Sheriff Deputy, dressed in full uniform, announced over the bus …

The HuffPost reports: Ah, young love! Is there anything more exciting ― or potentially torturous? That’s the question a new animated short film asks while beautifully depicting the angst and trepidation that can blossom right alongside a budding infatuation ― especially for LGBTQ people. “In A Heartbeat,” by Beth David and Esteban Bravo, tells the story of Sherwin, an awkward, …

CBS News reports: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation Friday requiring the state to give guidance to public schools about policies for transgender students, including blocking the schools from forcing the students from using bathrooms that conflict with their gender identities. The civil rights group Garden State Equality applauded the Republican governor for signing the measure saying that Christie …

Lehigh Valley Live reports: With the mayor’s stroke of a pen, Allentown has officially banned conversion therapy for minors in the city. The law prohibits licensed mental health professionals from counseling, practices, or treatments that seek to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Officials said Allentown is now the second municipality in the state, and 60th in the …

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo has signed her state’s bill outlawing ex-gay torture. That brings us to ten states, Washington DC, and host of cities big and small around the country. Via press release: “No child should be put through the dangerous and inhumane practice of conversion therapy,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “Medical professionals agree this outdated and …

Oh look, actual good news: Comedian, actor, and Last Week Tonight host John Oliver is set to emcee the 2017 TrevorLIVE New York gala on June 19 at the Marriott Marquis Times Square. YouTube personality Randy Rainbow will serve as Voice of God. Additional guests will include Imagine Dragons, Edie Windsor, Shoshana Bean, Barrett Pall, BD Wong, Brandon Uranowitz, Brendan …

The Texas Tribune reports: Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday called a special session of the Texas Legislature starting July 18. Abbott asked lawmakers to first pass key legislation that would keep some state agencies from shuttering. That “will be the only legislation on the special session [call] until they pass out of the Senate in full,” Abbott said. Abbott laid …

Mic.com reports: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) slammed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Tuesday when she “refused to affirm” that her department would protect students from discrimination in her testimony before the Senate. “I think that’s very important for the public to know that today, the secretary of education, before this committee, refused to affirm that she would put forward a …

Vox reports: A single student’s case has turned into a massive legal decision for all transgender Americans. On Tuesday, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Kenosha Unified School District in Wisconsin violated the rights of a trans student, Ash Whitaker [photo, with his mother], when it refused to let him use the boys’ bathroom. According to the …

The Dallas Morning News reports: The Texas Senate will reject the so-called bathroom bill passed in the House late Sunday and request a special committee to work out a compromise on the legislation. Sen. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, who authored the original bill, said he would not agree to the changes and would ask the two chambers appoint a conference committee …

The Dallas Morning News reports: The Texas House voted late Sunday on a bill that will keep transgender public school children from using the restroom that matches their gender identity. The measure, a Republican deal on the “bathroom bill,” passed the GOP-dominated chamber by a vote of 91-50. It needs one more vote to officially pass the House. If the …

Via press release: Today the Human Rights Campaign praised Nevada Republican Governor Brian Sandoval for signing into law Senate Bill (SB) 201 — legislation protecting LGBTQ youth in the state from the dangerous and discredited practice of so-called “conversion therapy.” HRC also commended State Senator David Parks for sponsoring the bill and shepherding it through to the Governor’s office. “No …

The San Luis Obispo Tribune reports: A San Luis Obispo High School teacher has resigned in the face of widespread outrage over a letter he wrote to the school student newspaper that cited a Biblical passage saying those who commit homosexual acts “deserve to die.” Special education teacher Michael Stack did not show up to work Thursday but sent the …