LGBT News

The New York Times reports: Mary Oliver, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose work, with its plain language and minute attention to the natural world, drew a wide following while dividing critics, died on Thursday at her home in Hobe Sound, Fla. She was 83. Her literary executor, Bill Reichblum, confirmed the death. Ms. Oliver had been treated for lymphoma, which …

Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who last week launched her campaign for president, today posted a video apology for her past as an anti-LGBT activist. From the included text on the below YouTube clip: Aloha. In my past I said and believed things that were wrong, and worse, hurtful to people in the LGBTQ+ community and their loved ones. Many years …

Just in from the Democratic National Committee: Second Lady Karen Pence began teaching art at Immanuel Christian School, which refuses admission to LGBTQ students and allies and forces prospective employees to sign a pledge not to engage in “homosexual or lesbian activity or transgender identity.” In response, DNC LGBTQ Media Director Lucas Acosta issued the following statement: “Mike Pence has …

The Wichita Eagle reports: Gov. Laura Kelly ordered Kansas state agencies on Tuesday to again prohibit on-the-job discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender state employees. The first openly gay state representatives in Kansas history said they will introduce a bill to extend non-discrimination protections to all LGBT people in the state. Kelly said she would sign such a bill. …

FINALLY now that Democrats control the state Senate! From the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York: Today we made history in New York! In an historic vote, both chambers of the New York’s Legislature finally passed GENDA—a measure to protect transgender and gender non-conforming people from discrimination statewide. This turning point is a victory some 17 years in the …

YouTube star Randy Rainbow is back today with a take on the government shutdown set to the tune of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s There’s Nothing Like A Dame, from the classic 1949 musical South Pacific. Watch below as Randy interviews “RuPaul’s Drag Race season three finalist” Mike Pence before launching into song. 

The Associated Press reports: The Russian republic of Chechnya has launched a new crackdown on gays in which at least two people have died and about 40 people have been detained, LGBT activists in Russia charged Monday. The new allegations come after reports in 2017 of more than 100 gay men arrested and subjected to torture, and some of them …

CNN reports: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard in the early 2000s touted working for her father’s anti-gay organization, which mobilized to pass a measure against same-sex marriage in Hawaii and promoted controversial conversion therapy. Although Gabbard’s positions on LGBT rights have shifted dramatically in more recent years (she signed a 2013 amicus brief supporting Edith Windsor’s challenge to the Defense of Marriage …

The Dallas Morning News reports: Two men have been charged with federal hate crimes for using the Grindr app to lure at least nine gay men to a vacant Dallas apartment where they allegedly beat, robbed, threatened and humiliated them, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday. Daniel Jenkins, 19, and Michael Atkinson, 24, committed the armed assaults during the first …

CBS News reports: One of the few well-known openly gay rappers in Puerto Rico has become a victim of intensifying violence on the island. Kevin Fret, a 24-year-old musician and outspoken advocate for the LGBT community, was murdered early Thursday morning in Santurce, one of San Juan’s busiest and most densely populated neighborhoods, according to El Vocero, one the largest …

Deadline Hollywood reports: “I’m over it,” Kevin Hart told Good Morning America multiple times when asked about the Oscar-hosting controversy that has dominated headlines for weeks. Hart appeared on ABC  to talk about his new movie The Upside, but, given that ABC broadcasts the ceremony, took more questions about being offered the Oscar job, then stepping away when homophobic remarks …

Raleigh’s NBC affiliate reports: Two women have been charged with assaulting a 29-year-old transgender person in a bathroom at a popular Glenwood South bar last month. According to investigators, the victim was inside the women’s bathroom at Milk Bar on Dec. 9 when she was sexually assaulted by two other women. Amber Harrell, 38, and Jessica Fowler, 31, are both …

The Denver Post reports: The Denver City Council voted unanimously to ban gay conversion therapy for minors in the city on Monday night. Denver is the first jurisdiction in Colorado to pass such a prohibition, according to a news release from the office of Mayor Michael Hancock. Hancock’s office proposed the prohibition. “This is a very proud moment for my …

CBS News Los Angeles reports: A man was found dead early Monday morning at the same West Hollywood apartment of prominent Democratic Party donor Edward Buck where another man died of a drug overdose about 18 months ago. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the apartment in the 1200 block of Laurel Avenue just after 1 a.m. where they …

The Associated Press reports: Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday signed a new directive to prohibit LGBT-based discrimination in state services or by state contractors, replacing a narrower order that her Republican predecessor issued days before he left office. Whitmer’s directive, like one signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in late December, says state contracts, grants and loans must include a …

Singapore’s Straits Times reports: Chinese gay dating app Blued is halting new user registration for a week, it said on Sunday (Jan 6), following media reports that underage users caught HIV after going on dates set up via the world’s largest networking app for the LGBT community. On Saturday (Jan 5), citing academic research, financial magazine Caixin said juveniles were …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Don Lemon had an issue with comments Kevin Hart made during his interview on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show, and he addressed them in an emotional segment on CNN Tonight Friday. Lemon, who spoke on behalf of both the African-American and gay communities, noted that, while Hart has addressed his homophobic jokes in the past, there is no …

From the Hollywood Reporter: Ellen DeGeneres’ attempts to play peacemaker between The Academy and Kevin Hart has engendered a social media backlash. Hart, who stood down as Oscars host after the resurfacing of past homophobic tweets, taped an interview with DeGeneres on Thursday that was originally due to air on Monday, but the producers of Ellen deemed it newsworthy enough …

The Associated Press reports: Newly installed President Jair Bolsonaro targeted Brazil’s indigenous groups, descendants of slaves and the LGBT community with executive orders in the first hours of his administration, moving quickly after a campaign in which the far-right leader said he would radically overhaul many aspects of life in Latin America’s largest nation. In removing LGBT concerns from the …

The Associated Press reports: Two Austrian women are the first same-sex couple to officially tie the knot in the predominantly Catholic country, following years of legal challenges from gay rights groups. Austria’s constitutional court ruled in 2017 that same-sex couples should have the right to marry from Jan. 1, 2019. Previously, same-sex couples could only enter into a registered partnership …