LGBT News

The Associated Press reports: Maine’s Democratic governor has signed a bill designed to protect providers of abortion and gender-affirming care from legal action brought by other states. Gov. Janet Mills signed the proposal after the Democratic-controlled Maine Legislature approved it earlier in the month. The state joins more than a dozen others that protect medical providers from out-of-state investigations about …

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: Louisiana’s top education official advised school districts Monday not to change their policies to comply with new federal rules that extend civil rights protections to LGBTQ+ students, setting up a potential showdown with the Biden administration. The new rules, released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education, say discrimination against students based on sexual orientation …

Reuters reports: Gay dating app Grindr is facing a mass data protection lawsuit in London from hundreds of users who allegedly had their private information, including HIV status, shared with third parties without consent, a law firm said on Monday. Austen Hays, which said the lawsuit is being filed at London’s High Court, said thousands of Grindr users in the …

Roll Call reports: The Biden administration on Friday finalized new rules designed to bolster legal protections at colleges and universities for LGBTQ+ and pregnant students and victims of sexual misconduct. The new rules do not address the politically contentious issue of transgender athletes competing on women’s sports teams, however. The rules released Friday update Title IX, the 1972 law that …

Today reports: Openly gay actor Maulik Pancholy was disinvited from speaking at a middle school anti-bullying assembly after concerns were raised about his political activism and what two school board members called his “lifestyle.” Pancholy’s scheduled appearance at Mountain View Middle School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, was unanimously overturned by the district’s school board in a public meeting on April 15. …

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports: About 100 people squeezed into City Council chambers Monday night (April 15) to express their views on BBH Pride Fest, which is scheduled for June 8 on the City Hall campus. Most of those who spoke were against the LGBTQ+ event and scolded Broadview Heights officials for allowing it on city property. “We are Broadview …

Los Angeles’s ABC affiliate reports: According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a caller who identified himself as “Henry” called the National Suicide Hotline on March 28 and made several statements about bombing the TransLatin@ Coalition on Juneteenth. Police said he also talked about setting their building on fire with gasoline and made a statement about attacking the Pride Parade …

The Christian Post reports: Parental rights activists nationwide held prayer rallies at each of the 50 state capitols and in Washington this weekend as part of an ongoing effort to turn individual states and the United States as a whole “back to God.” The Her Voice Movement is encouraging the formation of prayer hubs of two to 10 concerned women …

The Kansas City Star reports: Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday vetoed a bill that would ban transgender minors from receiving gender transition surgeries and hormone therapy, setting up another veto override fight over efforts to regulate the lives of trans residents. The bill, she said, dictates to parents how to best raise and care for their children, adding that …

Honolulu Civil Beat reports: The state Senate today easily approved House Bill 2802, which will ask voters in November to rescind a provision in the Hawaii Constitution that gives the Legislature the authority to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples. Article 1, Section 23 reserves to the Legislature the authority to define marriage, even as same-sex marriage has been federal law …

The Louisiana Illuminator reports: The Louisiana House Committee on Education advanced House Bill 121 by Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, which prohibits the use of transgender and nonbinary youth’s chosen names and pronouns in public K-12 schools without parental permission, along a party line 9-3 vote. House Bill 122 by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haugton, which limits discussion of gender and …

The Hill reports: President Biden’s reelection campaign on Wednesday launched Out for Biden-Harris, a new national initiative aimed to mobilize LGBTQ voters. The launch includes a series of virtual organizing and training events focused on reaching new volunteers, especially in battleground states, by engaging surrogates from the community. “LGBTQ+ voters are a force to be reckoned with. They were critical …

ABC News reports: The American Library Association released its annual list of the top 10 most targeted books of 2023 on Monday, the majority of which were challenges because of their LGBTQ content. “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe topped the list for the third year in a row. The graphic memoir, which chronicles the author’s experience with sexuality and gender …

Yahoo Finance reports: Anti-trans advocates failed to pass a measure at Disney’s annual shareholder meeting Wednesday amid the company’s largest, most expensive and contentious proxy contest in recent history. Today, Chloe Cole, a 19-year-old who has spent much of the last two years testifying in support of legislation to ban gender-affirming care for minors, urged Walt Disney Co. shareholders to …

NBC News reports: Pope Francis found an ally in his predecessor Benedict XVI when he spoke in favor of civil partnerships for same-sex couples, the pontiff said in a new book due out in Spain. Francis has confirmed the Catholic Church’s opposition to LGBTQ marriages, but has repeatedly said same-sex couples have a right to be protected by civil union …

Reuters reports: Uganda’s constitutional court on Wednesday refused to annul or suspend an anti-LGBTQ law that includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts, but found some of its provisions inconsistent with certain fundamental human rights. In particular the court said the section of the legislation requiring the mandatory reporting to authorities of people suspected of having committed homosexual offences …

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports: Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill Tuesday that would have banned transgender and gender nonconforming youth from participating on school athletic teams that align with their gender identity. The bill would have forced transgender and gender nonconforming students to instead play on teams that match the gender they were assigned at birth. It is the latest …

Axios reports: LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr has hired the founders of Athena, a 2-year-old fitness community app. Grindr aims to expand its app features into areas like travel and health, according to CEO George Arison. Grindr is known as a tool for finding nearby dates, but its users have been using it for other social connections, says Arison. Most of …

“Every year for the past several years on March 31, Transgender Day of Visibility is marked. And, as we know, for folks who understand the calendar and how it works, Easter falls on different Sundays, right? Every year. And this year, it happens to coincide with Transgender Visibility Day. “We were, at first, I want to be very clear, confused …

The Christian Post reports: A former Starbucks employee claims she was fired after objecting to a pride month display she felt was not family-friendly and refusing to abide by a policy requiring her to use a trans-identifying individual’s “preferred pronouns” due to her Christian beliefs. Taylor Trice opened up in a viral TikTok video Monday about how she was fired …