LGBT News

Politico reports: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz sharply criticized Sen. JD Vance’s response to this week’s school shooting in Georgia, telling an LGBTQ+ advocacy group Saturday evening that such events are “not a fact of life.” Vice President Kamala Harris, Walz and Democrats have fiercely condemned Vance’s comments about the shooting after he responded to a reporter’s question Thursday by saying: …

Bloomberg News reports: Molson Coors Beverage Co. is cutting back some of its corporate diversity efforts, joining a corporate retreat hastened by an anti-DEI social media campaign. Molson Coors sent a memo to employees Tuesday saying it will stop linking executive compensation to employee representation, scrap supplier diversity goals, and no longer engage with the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate rankings. …

Reuters reports: A retired teacher was sentenced on Wednesday to five years in prison for threatening in obscenity-filled voicemails to harm a federal judge in Florida who had rejected a challenge to the state’s so-called “don’t say gay” law restricting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. U.S. District Judge William Jung in Tampa sentenced Stephen Thorn, 66, to …

Fortune reports: Ford is the latest company to scale back on “woke” diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives after boycott pressure from anti-DEI crusader Robby Starbuck.  The former Hollywood music video director turned conservative activist has pressured several high-profile companies, including Harley-Davidson, to abandon inclusive employment policies. Yesterday, he posted a memo on his X account from Ford CEO Jim Farley …

NBC News reports: Florida’s official tourism website quietly removed a landing page for the state’s LGBTQ-friendly travel destinations sometime in the past four months. The website for the state’s tourism marketing corporation, VisitFlorida.com, had an “LGBTQ Travel” section that no longer exists, according to archived versions of the site viewable on the Internet Archive. The landing page previously featured blog …

Washington DC’s CBS affiliate reports: A fight outside of the Shack Shack near Dupont Circle over the weekend is being investigated as a suspected hate crime. According to a police report from the Metropolitan Police Department, Saturday night around 6 p.m., Christian Dingus reported to police that he was assaulted by multiple people. The police report states that the incident …

Gentle readers, today is Madonna’s 66th birthday. Below is a short story that first appeared on JMG on this day in 2006, a date which, as you’ll see, plays a role in the story. Ricky Loved Madonna Twenty years ago today, August 16th 1986, I was a few months into a new job with AMC Theatres, a position that I …

Courthouse News reports: An Iowa man fired for posting a comment on his employer’s intranet site condemning the rainbow pride flag as an “abomination to God” was not illegally fired based on his religion, a federal appeals court said in a ruling Wednesday. Daniel Snyder was fired from Arconic Corp., an aluminum company with tens of thousands of employees worldwide, …

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports: Hundreds of New College of Florida library books, including many on LGBTQ+ topics and religious studies, are headed to a landfill. A dumpster in the parking lot of Jane Bancroft Cook Library on the campus of New College overflowed with books and collections from the now-defunct Gender and Diversity Center on Tuesday afternoon. Video captured in …

EuroNews reports: Bulgaria has passed a law banning LGBTQ+ “propaganda” in schools, in a new blow to human rights that advocacy groups and campaigners have widely condemned. The amendment to Bulgaria’s education law, voted through by parliament on Wednesday, bans the “propaganda, promotion, or incitement in any way, directly or indirectly, in the education system of ideas and views related …

MLB.com reports: Major League Baseball is mourning the loss of one of its own. Billy Bean, the league’s Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, passed away at his home on Tuesday after an 11-month battle with acute myeloid leukemia. Bean, who was diagnosed last September, was 60 years old. “Our hearts are broken today as we mourn our …

The Illuminator reports: Just a day after a federal judge struck down an attempt by Alabama, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina to halt enforcement of the Biden administration’s final rule for Title IX, a federal appeals court granted the states’ request for an administrative injunction Wednesday — temporarily blocking the updated regulations from taking effect in those Southern states. The …

NBC News reports: A staffer at a Florida high school was suspended Tuesday after a county school board said she allowed her transgender daughter to play on a girls sports team in violation of state law. The School Board of Broward County voted 5-4 to suspend Jessica Norton from her job as a computer information specialist at Monarch High School …

NBC News reports: A federal judge in Alabama on Tuesday refused to block the Biden administration from enforcing new anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ students in four Republican-led states, breaking with six other judges who have said the rules are invalid. U.S. District Judge Annemarie Axon in Birmingham in a 122-page ruling, rejected various arguments that the four states led by …

The Catholic News Agency reports: A priest is suing the gay dating and “hookup” app Grindr after the company reportedly failed to protect his data, leading to his resignation from a top position at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). In July 2021, Monsignor Jeffrey Burrill resigned from his post as the general secretary of the USCCB ahead of …

The Michigan Advance reports: While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer fielded questions about speculation that she’ll be joining Kamala Harris as her vice presidential pick on the 2024 ballot, she signed Michigan’s $23.4B education budget into law Tuesday, as well as 39 other bills. Among the bills signed was HB 4718, which bans the “gay panic” or “trans panic” legal defense. The …

NBC News reports: John Deere said Wednesday it would cease lending its name to social events like LGBTQ Pride parades — the latest corporation to reassess its stance on hot-button social issues as the culture wars ignite ahead of the presidential election. In a statement posted on its X account, the nearly 200-year-old industrial and farming equipment manufacturer said it …

Mediaite reports: California Governor Gavin Newsom showed his willingness to hit back at political foes, which has long endeared him to Democrats. He used an old insult from Trump to mock billionaire Elon Musk. Musk announced Tuesday that he would be relocating the headquarters of SpaceX and X from California to Austin, Texas due to a new trans rights law …

The United Press reports: Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed legislation making California the first U.S. state to prohibit schools from outing students to their parents. The Democratic governor signed Assembly Bill 1955, better known as the SAFETY Act, Monday, according to a statement from his office, after the legislation passed through the state’s Congress last month. Under the bill, California …

Courthouse News reports: Seven GOP-dominated states filed a federal lawsuit in St. Louis against multiple Biden administration agencies Wednesday, in opposition to recent changes to the Affordable Care Act meant to protect transgender people from medical discrimination. Missouri, Utah, both Dakotas, Iowa, Idaho and Arkansas, joined by a conservative medical professional organization known as the American College of Pediatricians, filed …