LGBT News

The Texas Tribune reports: A federal judge has ruled that Biden administration guidelines requiring employers to provide protections for LGBTQ employees go too far, in a win for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who brought suit against the rules last fall. The rules were first issued after the landmark ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County in 2020, in which the …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: A federal judge has rejected — at least for now — a lawsuit challenging a controversial new law that restricts instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in public schools. U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor issued a 25-page order dismissing the case, finding that plaintiffs did not show they had legal standing. Winsor, however, said …

Changing America reports: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Thursday signed into law a bill to make the state a refuge for transgender youth and their families. The measure, effective Jan. 1, is designed to shield families with transgender youth under 18 from being criminally prosecuted if they travel to California to obtain gender-affirming health care for their children from …

The Deseret News reports: As the Senate considers legislation to protect same-sex marriage, a new poll shows nearly three-fourths of Utahns support legal same-sex marriage. The new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics survey found 72% of residents agree that marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages. The poll …

From the Justice Department: Chance Seneca, 21, of Lafayette, Louisiana, pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Robert Summerhays to one count of kidnapping. According to his plea agreement, Seneca admitted that on June 20, 2020, he used Grindr, a dating application for gay and bisexual men, to kidnap and attempt to murder H.W., a gay man. Specifically, Seneca acknowledged …

The New York Times reports: Americans who received a single dose of the monkeypox vaccine were significantly less likely to be infected by the virus over the summer than those who did not, according to an analysis published on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that offered a limited glimpse of the shot’s protectiveness. The findings, gleaned …

The Military Times reports: A decade after the services first allowed gay and lesbian troops to serve openly, a report from the Joint Staff found that concerns about combat effectiveness and unit cohesion were basically unfounded. That’s the conclusion of a 196-page document published in 2021 by the Joint History and Research Office, recently brought to light by the Palm …

Reuters reports: The LGBT community has “very real fears” after a conservative bloc dominated by the far-right won Italy’s general election, a leading gay rights campaigner told Reuters. The nationalist Brothers of Italy group, led by Giorgia Meloni, emerged as the largest party in the ballot and will lead the most right-wing government in Rome since World War Two. Meloni, …

The BBC reports: Cuba has voted to legalise same-sex marriage in a national referendum. About two-thirds of the population voted to approve reforms in a new Family Code, which will also allow surrogate pregnancies and give gay couples the right to adopt children. It marks a big moment for Cuba, which saw gay people persecuted and sent to work camps …

Gainesville’s ABC affiliate reports: On Saturday morning, members of the Pride Community Center in Gainesville received a call from a real estate office in the same complex about their building being vandalized. “She told me that she was just informed by somebody that came to her office that the pride center had been vandalized and that the windows were all …

Michigan Live reports: Mark David Latunski, the Shiawassee County man accused of killing and dismembering 25-year-old Kevin Bacon in December 2019, has pleaded guilty. Latunski, 52, appeared before Judge Matthew J. Stewart of the 35th Circuit Court Thursday, Sept. 22, and pleaded guilty as charged to open murder and mutilation of a body. A degree hearing will be held on …

Reuters reports: Cubans will cast ballots this Sunday on whether to approve a new ‘family code’ that would legalize gay marriage and boost women’s rights, with the government urging citizens to vote “yes” despite anger over the worst economic crisis in decades. The Communist-run government – long the vanguard of Latin America’s left – has in the last week flooded …

Hemant Mehta reports at Only Sky: On Saturday, October 8, the University of Massachusetts football team will host Liberty University. The game would likely have flown under the radar of most college football fans… if not for the fact that UMass announced over the weekend that the Liberty game will coincide with “Pride Day.” UMass doesn’t have a particularly good …

The Associated Press reports: FIFA came under pressure Wednesday from several European soccer federations who want their captains to wear an armband with a rainbow heart design during World Cup games in Qatar to campaign against discrimination. France and Germany, the last two World Cup champions, were among eight of the 13 European soccer teams going to Qatar who joined …

The Associated Press reports: Qatar’s ambassador to Germany was urged Monday to abolish his country’s death penalty for homosexuality at a human rights congress hosted by the German soccer federation two months before the Middle East country stages the World Cup. Fan representative Dario Minden switched to English to directly address the Qatari ambassador, Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Al …

“In a healthy country, with an intact social fabric, neighborhood dads would give out instant justice to anyone who even thought about sexualizing their kids. “And if you doubt that, go out and try it in Bulgaria or South Africa or the Solomon Islands. Good luck. Let us know how that ends, if you can still speak. “Libs of TikTok …

The Guardian reports: Serbian police arrested more than 64 people as thousands of LGBTQI+ activists turned out for Belgrade’s EuroPride march on Saturday, despite a government ban. The event had been intended as the cornerstone event of the EuroPride gathering. But the interior ministry banned the march earlier this week, citing security concerns after rightwing groups threatened to hold protests. …

The New York Daily News reports: It was advertised as a “fun-filled afternoon” in a Bronx library with a “local celebrity/author who encourages you to embrace your own uniqueness.” Instead, the free event planned at the Morrisania Library starring drag artist Desmond Napoles was canceled after the teenaged celebrity received hate-filled and violent threats — a trend that has led …

The Washington Post reports: In a major rollback of LGBTQ rights, the administration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) will require that transgender students in Virginia access school facilities and programs that match the sex they were assigned at birth and is making it more difficult for students to change their names and genders at school. Under new “model policies” for …

The Associated Press reports: Just hours after a Montana judge blocked health officials from enforcing a state rule that would prevent transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificate, the Republican-run state on Thursday said it would defy the order. District Court Judge Michael Moses chided attorneys for the state during a hearing in Billings for circumventing his …